Before Evolution
by darkstorm5000
Summary: Years before Cyclops or Jean Grey ever arrived in Bayville, or donned a uniform with an 'X' on it for that matter, there were XMen. The ORIGINAL XMen! Witness their early adventures featuring Wolverine, Storm, Thunderbird, Morph, and Sunfire.
1. Come Together

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**……………………………………………………………**

Chapter 1- Come Together

-_Roughly Fifteen Years Ago…_

The prestigious Xavier Institute, located on the isolated outskirts of Bayville, New York, sits here nestled on a protected cliff's-edge overlooking the central body of water upon which the city has drawn its rather descriptive name from. It is a private school known to academic elites as a distinguished and ultra-exclusive place of learning. And it is a notoriety that this institute has earned, in great part, due to the fact that it is helmed by one of the nation's pioneering figures and foremost experts with regards to human genetics, Professor Charles Xavier.

A man, who as a result, has also found himself deeply entangled within the growing debate about mutants, humans born with super-human powers. About whether they actually exist, and if so, whether these 'mutants' pose a threat to the public at large. If judged by his perception in the public-eye, one would assume Professor Xavier himself to be a rather unassuming individual, an advocate attempting to insert reason and moderation into an issue that would appear to have little impact on him personally.

But, usually when looked at beyond its face-value, what seems to be clearly obvious is not always as it may first appear.

"…is merely the public face of what we do here. But the lower-levels, as you will soon see for yourself, is another matter entirely." Were the expositive words now being spoken by Professor Xavier, as he wheeled in through the large, front double-doors of his Institute, doing so while in the company of two other individuals, each walking in alongside of him.

"Yeah, that's where we stash the kegs, togas, and all that other party-surplus we lucked out and got our hands on, after those Delta guys accidentally blew up their frat-house." A teenage boy with dark-brown hair, who was currently walking beside Professor Xavier and whose appearance upon initial sight didn't seem to be all that out of the ordinary, humorously remarked.

But, if his intention from his comment had been to get a laugh, or at least some sort of noticeable reaction out of the young lady also in their company, then it appeared that he had failed, as she didn't really seem to even acknowledge his joke. In fact, as she walked with him and Professor Xavier through the front entry-area, and then down this lengthy hallway corridor in the mansion, her attention was more pre-occupied at the moment with taking in her new, expansive surroundings. Which included numerous statue-busts, paintings, and other classic furnishings and valuable heirlooms, some of which had been passed down through the Xavier family for generations.

"Morph, I believe that you should perhaps save your witty repartee for a little later. At least, until Ms. Yashida has had the opportunity to conclude this tour of her new home, and to confirm for herself that the Danger Room is not, in fact, the locale for some outlandish Hollywood free-for-all." Professor Xavier admonishingly, and somewhat sarcastically, smirked and said to Morph.

"Hmph. Says you." Morph replied, this time with his tone a bit more downbeat and with a slightly lessened smile on his face, but still with a smile nonetheless.

Morph by now had used his mutant powers to shift back into his true physical form, as his skin quickly took on a pasty, paler tone. He had also transformed his casual outfit before their very eyes, converting his clothing into a black and khaki-trimmed spandex uniform, which included two circular, black-and-red 'X' badges on each shoulder, and one on his belt-buckle.

Meanwhile Professor Xavier, who was attired in a customary brown-tweed suit and matching tie, and Mariko Yashida, who herself was wearing a medium-brown trench coat over a plush, cream colored short-sleeved sweater-top, a purple knee-length skirt, and a pair of brown sharp-toed ankle boots, both continued on down the hallway with Morph, before they all stopped about halfway down.

Suddenly, the solid oak wall-panel in front of them slid to the right, opening up to now reveal a secret elevator shaft behind it. Professor Xavier and Morph seemed hardly phased by this occurrence, as they without any hesitation boarded the elevator within. But, Mariko appeared to be a bit more reserved, as she paused momentarily before stepping onto the elevator with them, an instant before its doors slid closed behind her and they began their rapid descent downward.

And as Professor Xavier had promised, Mariko was about to receive her first-glimpse at the brand new life that she was about to jump feet-first into, which was beyond anything that she could have ever imagined.

**……………………………………………………………….….**

Nearly a mile below the Earth's surface, lay a complex maze-work of underground corridors, tunnels, and sub-level rooms. But, for Professor Xavier, Morph, and Mariko, their destination was one room in particular, a very large and specifically-tasked room at that.

"Last stop Danger Room, all aboard please return your trays to their upright positions, file out in an orderly fashion, and have all baggage-claim tickets ready before disembarking. Thank You." Morph said, as his visage briefly took the form of a train's conductor, before he morphed back to his regular appearance.

The trio then stepped out of the elevator into a smaller metallic corridor, with a large sign a few feet away in front of them that read 'Danger Room', with an arrow pointing to their left and down at an angle. The sign also read 'Control Booth', which had another arrow pointing to their right, and to where a normal-sized steel door stood.

The Danger Room, which sat so far down here was built for one reason, and for one reason only, to allow Professor Xavier's students' to better hone their mutant abilities. Which in most of their cases, were powers that had only recently manifested and that these lucky (or not-so-lucky in some of their own humble opinions), recipients had yet to fully grasp on how to properly use.

As Professor Xavier, Mariko, and Morph took an observatory position in the control booth located right above the center of the Danger Room, they now got a birds-eye view of the action currently taking place down below.

"**_Damn it, watch it where you're blastin' those things_**!"

"_Given our current predicament, I believe that I'm doing the best that I can_."

"_Girl, if this is the best you 'n him both're able to muster up, then we're all gonna be in a world'a shit real quick_!"

Imperfect, as it may have been.

"Mariko, those three individuals who are otherwise occupied at the moment down there, are your other new teammates." Professor Xavier said, as he, Mariko, and Morph walked up to the control booth's main computer console.

The trio then looked out onto this metallic-domed room through a large window, which encased a majority of the booth's exterior in a semi-cylindrical fashion. Professor Xavier then proceeded to identify his other remaining students to Mariko, who numbered a total of three and were now engaged in a Danger Room training sequence. They were dressed in black and khaki-trimmed uniforms that were almost identical to the one that Morph had on, except that theirs had attached hooded-masks on them. Although, none of them were wearing the masks over their faces' at the moment.

"The muscular and robust young man down and to your right is John Proudstar, whom I have given the code-name of Thunderbird. His mutant power grants him superhuman strength, speed, and endurance, the upper limits of which have yet to be fully gauged." Professor Xavier explained, as they witnessed Thunderbird wrestling exhaustively with a huge coiled tentacle-arm that had emerged from the Danger Room's wall, and was trying to sink its steel manacles into him and his other two teammates.

"Next is Logan, also known Wolverine, a name which he has been going by long before his arrival at this school." Professor Xavier said next, as he pointed out the individual close to Thunderbird, who had what appeared to be three foot-long, knifelike blades on each of his hands, using them to hack and slash at the large tentacle-arm temporarily subdued by T-bird, "A man, whose abilities as you can plainly see, more than live up to his namesake."

"And don't you forget it, bub!" Morph now humorously added, as he morphed his physical features and voice to mimic those of Wolverine's, complete with his unique hairstyle and a set of faux metal claws now protruding out of his right hand, before he just as quickly morphed back.

"While he may appear a bit…aged for enrollment as a new student here at this school, Wolverine was brought, and has nonetheless agreed to remain here, in an attempt to learn to control those inner-demons that have only been further exacerbated by his mutant powers." Professor Xavier continued expounding, before moving on to the last of his students down in the Danger Room, "And as you can see, the young lady currently navigating her way around the Danger Room high above her teammates' is Ororo Munroe, whom I have code-named Storm. Which is an obvious choice, given her uncanny ability to manipulate the weather, along with its other related aspects."

"Yeah, that and the fact that she's also--" Morph was saying, as he was about to deliver another one of his wise-cracking comments when Mariko, who hadn't said much of anything since her arrival in Bayville earlier in the afternoon, unexpectedly interrupted him.

"Beautiful." Mariko finished, in an almost whispering voice that was just barely audible, instinctively blurting her comment out without thinking.

Mariko looked briefly out at this girl, who swiftly flew by the enlarged window in front of them, before reticently turning her gaze back to the control panel down in front of her and Professor Xavier.

"Well, yeah, sure, that too…" Morph now said, in response to Mariko's remark about this young lady with shoulder-length white hair that was tied back into a single pony-tail, pristine blue eyes, and near flawless features.

Which, wasn't all that unusual of an initial reaction for anyone to have about Ororo, especially since she had in fact spent much of her formative years worshipped as something of a teenaged weather-goddess by her own people, before Professor Xavier discovered her with his mutant-detection device called Cerebro a few months ago. When Professor X came to Africa and offered Storm the opportunity to use her powers to do some real good for the entire world, the teen guardedly, but wholly agreed to help him.

As Storm was now skillfully and gracefully flying around the Danger Room, she had taken flight aided by a strong gust of wind, which was now whipping around her and up into her lengthy cape, a shear that had seemingly came from out of nowhere. Now, Storm was busily casting down bolts of lightning to draw the fire of its automated defenses, doing so in an attempt to buy some time for her two teammates' currently on the ground. They were struggling to disable the room's mechanized tentacle-arms so that they could complete today's training objective, but had so far met with mixed results.

"X-Men, that will be enough for now." Professor Xavier now said, as he spoke to his students' below through a microphone on the console in front of him, shutting down their training exercise from the control booth above them, "I want all of you to come meet your newest teammate."

**……………………………………………………**

Doing as requested, the X-Men soon exited the now idle Danger Room. And within a matter of minutes, they had made their way up to the control booth above to join their mentor and classmates'.

"This is Mariko Yashida, who has been given the code-name of Sunfire for her mutant ability to generate intense heat and flames. I trust that you will all do your best to help ease her transition here, and to make her feel welcome." Professor Xavier said, as he now introduced Mariko to the rest of his teenaged protégés, with the exception of Logan in that regard.

"Nice to meet you, Mariko." John smilingly said, as he was standing alongside Ororo and Logan and took a few steps forward, raising his extremely muscular arm to give Mariko a greeting wave of his hand.

"It…is a pleasure to meet you as well." Mariko cordially replied, as she looked up at Thunderbird for a brief moment and then cast her gaze back down at the steel-tiled floor, appearing to be slightly intimidated by his massive stature and somewhat booming voice.

"I don't know about you guys', but I'm ready to hit the showers. I'll catch everyone later." John now said to the entire group, as he turned and then proceeded out of the control booth, to unwind after what had been a somewhat grueling afternoon.

"Ororo, would you please show Mariko to her new room. It is in the same wing as yours, right next door." Professor Xavier asked Ororo, as he then turned his wheelchair back around to the Danger Room's control console to begin analyzing the tape playback from his students' training session today, so that he could properly assess and evaluate their performance.

"Of course, Professor." Ororo nodded and replied, as she repositioned the full-length cape that hung down from her shoulders, and was attached to her wrists right above her gloved hands. Once she was ready, Ororo then amiably gestured for Mariko to come and walk along with her.

As Ororo and Mariko now headed out of the control booth together, heading for the elevator that would shuttle them back up to the mansion's first-floor, Morph and Logan also came out into the hallway, as the door to the control booth closed behind them leaving Professor Xavier in there by himself. But, as soon as they were out there, Logan and Morph paused to stop and talk for a moment.

"So, how do you rate the new girl?" Morph now asked, as he stood next to Logan, putting his arm up on the shoulder of the feral mutant and leaning up beside him, "Pretty hot, isn't she?"

But, hardly the touchy-feely type, Logan promptly and forcefully pushed Morph's arm off of his shoulder, causing him to stumble over a few steps to his side. Logan then looked and watched as Mariko, along with Ororo, made her way down to the elevator at the end of the corridor, disappearing inside once it had arrived for them.

"I'm gonna tell you just like I did last time you asked me that same question, 'pasty-pants'. I got better things to do with my time, than to waste it chasin' behind the jail-bait sashayin' themselves around here." Logan replied, in a pretty stern tone, as he looked over at Morph. Who by now, was leaning with his back up against one of the cold, steel walls in the corridor.

And with that said, Logan then reached into a utility pocket on his X-uniform and pulled a cigar out, unceremoniously placing it into his mouth and chomping down hard on the end of it, all in anticipation of lighting it up.

"You know, the Surgeon General warns that smoking can cause lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy." Morph now said, as he suddenly morphed his form into that of the recently-retired Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, at the sight of Logan's cigar.

"Then I'm in good shape, 'cause don't none-of-the-above apply to me." Logan grinned and replied, as he gave little weight to what Morph was saying, and now ardently searched his own person for a lighter or a match.

"I was talking about myself, actually." Morph replied, who now dropped all of his trademark humored pretenses, delivering his remark about Logan smoking with a seriousness that seemed to rival Wolverine's.

"Fine, I'll be out in the woods. Again." Logan slightly growled and replied in an irritated tone, as he now held the unlit cigar between the fingers of his right hand, "Seems like that's the only place I can get a little peace 'n quiet around here, what with your whinin' on top of Chuck's constant bitchin' about my lightin' up in the house."

Logan then began to head towards the elevator to go up to the surface. But, after taking only a few steps, Logan stopped and turned back around to say something else to Morph.

"A bit of advice, kid. If you want girls' like Ororo or Mariko to actually give you more than just a second look, you'd better learn to quit actin' like one first." Logan said to Morph, delivering this derisive verbal jab at the significantly younger X-Man with deadly, precision aim.

As Logan then turned back and stalked his way out of the Institute's subterranean levels, Morph was now left there alone, standing outside of the Danger Room's control booth.

"Sure, whatever. Bub." Morph mockingly responded, although waiting until Logan had gotten onto the elevator and was well out of earshot before saying it.

But, in spite of Morph's seemingly ever-vivacious exterior, the proverbial class-clown wasn't particularly feeling very jocular right now. Which, was in no small part due to his teammate's fairly scornful comment to him just now…

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**Next Chapter?**


	2. Are You Experienced?

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**……………………………………………………………**

Chapter 2- Are You Experienced?

In what had become a fairly monotonous routine for them in a surprisingly short amount of time, the five individuals recently assembled together by Professor Charles Xavier to help him fight for his dream of a world safe for them, and for individuals like them also born with extraordinary powers, were all once again hard at work in the Danger Room training complex that their new mentor had constructed far beneath his mansion estate. It is here that the X-Men now spend the majority of their days, day after day, incessantly working to develop their mutant skills and make themselves into a vital and effective defense force for all of mankind, which Professor X is confident that they will in fact one day become.

And, while they've all made considerable strides with regards to their individual proficiency in controlling their unique powers, a casual glance into their current training session would just as plainly reveal that these X-Men still have quite a ways to go, especially when it comes to them learning how to operate together as a cohesive unit.

"Remember, X-Men, that the objective of today's training session is for you to successfully complete it within the allotted time parameters. Or, you will all have to repeat this exercise from the beginning. Again." Professor Xavier unhesitatingly reminded his students', as he relayed his directive to them from a microphone in the control booth above, which was broadcast throughout the entire Danger Room via its monotone-sounding loudspeakers.

Meanwhile Storm, Morph, Wolverine, Thunderbird, and Sunfire each trudged on, attempting to drown the very thought out of their minds of possibly having to repeat this particular simulation if they failed.

Again.

Moving both by foot, as well as through the air, these novice X-Men proceeded through the Danger Room's mechanized obstacle course that had been laid out before them, doing so with a cautious urgency. They wanted nothing more than to quickly bypass the traps intentionally set out to impede their progress, and to hurry along before new ensnarements were given chance to spring forth and take their place.

"Everyone stay close together." Storm said to the other X-Men, as they began the training exercise in the Danger Room, and she slipped into her role as team field-leader with her order.

"And keep an eye out for just about anything. No tellin' what the Prof's got up his sleeve for us this time." Wolverine advisedly said, as he took point and walked a couple of paces ahead of the group, relying on his own keen senses to serve as a preliminary method of warning and to alert them to the first sign of trouble.

The rest of the group heeded Wolverine's advice and followed closely behind him, as they proceeded down these maze-like corridors that had been artificially created within the Danger Room, which had deliberately dim fluorescent-lighting that shone down on them from the short ceiling above. All of the X-Men were currently dressed in similarly-styled, black and khaki official team-uniforms, which were pilot jumpsuits that had been made out of a Kevlar-mesh cloth, with lightweight protective padding that was strategically placed underneath. And, while the outfits did afford them a higher degree of protection, they weren't exactly the most comfortable articles to wear or train in, though.

Just then as they were walking forward in the closed-off corridor, a set of familiar-looking coiled tentacles unexpectedly shot up in front of the team, emerging from the floor through one of the nearly innumerable steel-tiles that composed the flooring of the training room and halted any prospect of continued forward progress. With the team having decided prior to the beginning of this exercise to respond with a slightly new strategy for this simulation's go-round, Wolverine popped the razor-sharp adamantium claws from out of his hands with a faint 'snikt' sound, and immediately dashed over to the four tentacles before them. Without hesitation, Storm used her own mutant command of the weather to create small wind drafts that flowed all around her, allowing her to cruise through the air to assist Wolverine in facing this first training obstacle.

But, just as suddenly, one of those surprises that Logan had alluded to mere moments ago, now made itself known. It came in the form of hydraulically-powered steel walls that began to slide forward, closing in on the X-Men from each side of this enclosed corridor where they were currently standing. This small area had now converted itself into a make-shift compactor, with the X-Men there as its intended compactees.

"Better do somethin' about that…" Wolverine called out, as he briefly noticed the walls closing in on them, but had his attention more pre-occupied with a metallic tentacle that had managed to somehow wrap itself around his entire body while he was hacking away at it.

Which, Storm was attempting to release Wolverine from, as she hovered less then a foot above the floor up near the low-set, steel-tiled ceiling, hurling precisely-aimed bolts of electricity directly from her hands at the coiled tentacle.

"I'm on it!" Thunderbird assertively proclaimed, as he ran over to one side of the confined corridor and threw his massive bodyweight against one of the walls rapidly closing in on them.

"I'll give you a hand." Morph now said, as he quickly made his way over to the other enclosing wall on the opposite side of the corridor.

"What good…is that going to do, Morph?" Thunderbird asked, as he slammed his body up hard against the left-side wall.

Struggling to try and at least slow down the incoming steel-panel, the strain of such a task on this young man was plainly evident. Both, in Thunderbird's voice, and at the sight of his enormously muscular biceps and rippling arms as he labored against this huge and heavy solid-steel wall, which were on full display thanks to his specifically tailored short-sleeved uniform.

"Don't worry, I got it all under control." Morph replied to his teammate's skeptical inquiry, as he used his mutant ability to alter his appearance, changing his own black and khaki uniform into a short-sleeved one almost identical to that of Thunderbird's.

To further mimic Thunderbird's look, Morph then shape-shifted his own body into a bigger and more muscular physical form that was on par with his larger teammate. But, Morph's skin instead took on an orange and cream color-scheme, his hair instantly grew longer and of a fire-red hue, and his fingertips developed a clawed sharpness at their ends, which seemed to perfectly complement his face's now more cat-like countenance.

"Thunder, Thunder, THUNDERPUSS! Ho!" Morph now cried out, proving that any sense of understatement certainly did not reside within his personality.

And with that, Thunderbird simply shook his head in response to witnessing Morph's overly theatrical display. But, Thunderbird did not have the luxury of time to say much else on the matter, as his own focus had to remain on the task at hand.

Which, was to namely keep all of them from being squished flat by these ever-contracting walls.

Meanwhile, Morph hoped that his now exponentially increased mass and density would be enough to allow him to act as a doorstop and impede the right-wall's movement as he, like Thunderbird, threw his own newly transmorphed body up against it. Both of these young men were banking on the prospect that their own current efforts would buy enough time for Wolverine and Storm to clear a path through the tentacle obstacles in front of them, so that they could all proceed forward and complete today's training session.

But true to form, the X-Men were about to once again be shown that things in life rarely went that smoothly, or that according to plan.

"Crap." Morph(currently aka Thunderpuss) remarked, as he pushed against the right wall with all of his might, while also momentarily looking back towards the starting point of their training exercise.

Morph and his teammates now saw a huge steel-ball drop down from out of the ceiling at the beginning of the corridor, doing so with a loud 'thud' that shook the floor and made them suddenly feel as though they had been placed smack-dab in the middle of a movie, and without a local tour guide to help them out of this jam either.

However, also at the corridor's entrance was Sunfire, the most recent and least vocal addition to the X-Men's ranks who had remained behind to bring up their rear, and who herself had only just begun to truly understand the full extent her own mutant powers. It was during her solo instruction sessions that Professor Xavier had also revealed to Sunfire that her powers her apparently afforded her the ability to levitate in mid-air, a talent which Sunfire now put on display by hovering there right in metal-ball's path.

But, even with those recent discoveries about her own potential, Sunfire still had nowhere near the confidence in her powers or in her abilities to think that she could slow down, let alone stop, the giant steel-boulder that was now speeding towards her and her teammates.

"Sunfire, just slag the damn thing!" Wolverine shouted at her, hoping to get Sunfire to use her ability to generate intense heat through her 'atomic-flame' to melt the speeding metal ball, as he and Storm had cut the obstructing tentacles' number from four, down to just one.

But, Wolverine's outcry drew no discernible action from Sunfire, save her own instinctive response to shield her face and upper-body by criss-crossing her arms in front of herself. This still inexperienced X-Man braced in anticipation of the impact from this immense object, which was thundering towards them and about to hit her.

Then, tragedy was averted when the Danger Room's tiled-floor unexpectedly opened up and the humongous ball was seemingly swallowed whole, dropping it down into this artificial chasm created only a few feet away from where Sunfire was currently hovering.

"Sequence terminated." Was the next thing heard by the X-Men, as Professor Xavier spoke to them over the loud speaker, with his tone unmistakably relaying a hint of disappointment in it.

This followed the thud-like noise that the large steel-ball made as it dropped down into the storage area beneath the Danger Room, which to them sounded like it was then being run through a ball-return machine at a bowling alley. The X-Men, each knowing full-well that they had failed the day's exercise, stood there in silence and watched as the lights above brightened and the training room was returned back to its default state. Numerous mechanical gears whirred and spun all around them, as this steel-tiled environment was buried and shifted back into a deceptively unassuming empty-room.

Then, the silence within was broken by words spoken, not from the Professor, but by one of the individuals inside of the Danger Room.

"**Dammit**!" Logan growlingly yelled out, as he turned to face the other X-Men, who were all standing close to one another in a loose semi-circle, "Girl, you keep on royally screwin' up like that and next time you're not only gonna wind up gettin' yourself killed, but the rest of us along with you!"

And without him even having to say her name, they all knew to whom Logan's comment had been directed at.

"I…was trying my best." Mariko timidly replied, as she sort of looked down at the floor and spoke to them in a near-whisper. She was already feeling bad enough as it was about having made another mistake during a training exercise, and certainly didn't need a public tongue-lashing to go along with it.

"If you call freezin' up like that your best, you might as well quit even botherin' to suit up and come down here with us then!" Logan loudly said, as he insensitively chastised Mariko in front of the other X-Men, his frustrations regarding today's events plainly evident to all by the way he was now verbally taking it out on her, "'Least it would keep us from havin' to run the same goddamn simulations over and over again, until YOU finally decide to get 'em right."

But, these last remarks ultimately proved to be more than Mariko could handle, as Logan's scathing criticisms caused this soft-spoken and highly sensitive teen to uncontrollably burst out into a shower of tearful sobs.

"Guys, I'm…sorry, I…" Was all that a now emotional and heavily-bawling Mariko could manage to get out as an apology to her teammates', before she turned away from them and took off running in the opposite towards the Danger Room's exit. She then paused and stood there, crying with her gloved-hand covering her lower-face, doing so just long enough for the huge sealed doors in front of her to slide open and allow her to leave.

"Making a super-sweet girl like that cry. You're a real class-act, you know that?" Morph said, as he looked right at Logan and stared him down, this time with no humorous sentiment evident, or intended for that matter, in his tone.

Morph then transformed himself back into his more familiar, gray-toned appearance, before spinning around and dashing off in the same direction over towards the Danger Room's exit, to try and catch-up with his obviously upset teammate. Leaving behind two other teammates, who themselves had some rather choice words of their own for Logan.

"Why do you have to be such an asshole all the damn time!" John now shouted at Logan, as this imposingly-built young man, who towered over Logan at well over six and a half feet in height, did so while standing just a few inches away from him.

"Son, if you don't get outta my face real quick, I'll show ya first-hand how big of an asshole I can be when I go 'n rip ya out a new one!" Logan hostilely replied, as he stood and looked up at John without budging, or even showing any signs of backing down from this confrontation one bit, both of his fists balled up and ready to strike.

But, as the team's designated leader, Ororo felt that the responsibility should fall to her to rectify and resolve what had happened, as she came and separated John and Logan by stepping in between these two hormonally-charged individuals.

"Ain't this cute." Logan mockingly commented, at seeing Ororo come over to now insert herself into the middle of this potentially volatile situation.

"Be that as it may, what you did to Mariko was uncalled for." Ororo said to Logan in a calm and non-confrontational tone, as the two looked right at one another.

"The girl's not cuttin' it in here, simple as that, and I let her know it. What, you plan on doin' somethin' about it, darlin'?" Logan smiled and remarked, as he issued what amounted to being a verbal challenge to Ororo.

"Do you think me incapable of such an action?" Ororo replied, as she stood there, this time with an eyebrow raised.

"In a whole lot less words, yeah. I'm callin' your bluff. Frail." Logan clarified for Ororo, as his expression became dead-serious in the blink of an eye, and he intentionally pressed the issue with her.

And with this gauntlet apparently thrown down, Logan stood poised and prepared for Ororo to respond to it. But, the response that Logan would receive from her was not one that he had been expecting, as the far-off sound of thunder cracking could now be heard.

Logan and Ororo stood there in the Danger Room and stared each other down, neither one moving. Until, the air inside of the Danger Room began to whip all around them, before quickly growing in speed and in intensity. Then, within a mere matter of seconds, Logan found himself on the receiving end of a concentrated, near gale-force wind current, which took him up off of his feet. Left summarily pinned over against one of the steel-tiled walls, Logan was rendered essentially helpless by Storm, as she took her time and slowly sauntered over towards him.

John struggled to maintain his own footing within this unforeseen maelstrom, despite the fact that the heavy-winds now flowing throughout the training chamber were not even being directed at him. Meanwhile, the Professor looked on and maintained his observations of what was taking place, having been watching these events the entire time from the control booth above. Normally he wouldn't condone, or even allow, such behavior to take place among his students and would've immediately stepped in to break up this altercation.

But, given what had been building between Logan and his younger teammates' for some time now, and especially with what had transpired down there this afternoon with his latest recruit, Professor Xavier decided to make this one exception to that rule, so that perhaps Logan himself would learn an important lesson. Sensing from Ororo the true intent of why she was doing what she was doing, and in such a physical manner, Professor Xavier also knew that this display was almost at an end as well.

Meanwhile, Storm and Logan had been simply staring at one another for some time now, with Storm's now completely white-pupils firmly and unflinchingly locked onto Logan's dark-hued ones, as he had been completely immobilized and left prostrate before her up on the wall.

"You may believe yourself to be an expert on the subject of what it means to be tough. And, given my limited knowledge on what you have been through in your life, perhaps you truly are." Storm said, as she calmly looked up at Logan, who remained pinned against the wall a few feet above the Danger Room's floor, "But, you would do well not to underestimate the powers that I possess, nor to make the mistake of disrespecting them, or me, again!"

The strength of the air being blasted at Logan, while fairly uncomfortable for him, was nowhere near reaching the limits of his body's pain threshold. Then again, Logan was also well aware of the fact that this teenaged weather-goddess was only using a fraction of the power at her disposal to make her point to him, and make it she did. Then, just as suddenly and without warning as they had come, the winds that had been gusting through the Danger Room ceased and Logan was released by being dropped back down onto the steel-tiled floor, albeit not very gently.

Ororo stood there and gave Logan one final glance, as he now sat on the floor with his back up against the wall. She had unmistakably conveyed to him the tremendous level of poise and maturity that she possessed, which seemed to belie her fairly youthful age. Ororo then wrapped the cape-like cloak of her X-uniform around her entire body and sharply turned around to exit the Danger Room, with John now walking out alongside her.

"_Logan, now that the others have gone, would you please come up and see me for a moment_…"

Knowing that there was only one man on Earth who could accomplish such a task, Logan's instinctive reaction was to look up to Professor Xavier, who was sitting in the overhead control booth above, and nod his head in affirmation of this request that had been delivered directly into his own mind. Logan then stood up from the floor and prepared himself to have words with yet another individual, seemingly in as many minutes, as he now started off towards the exit of the Danger Room for their private meeting.

**………………………………………………………………**

For the next ten minutes following the ignominious scene downstairs, Morph had come up and intensely searched for Mariko. Starting off in the central living-room, he then methodically rushed around this huge mansion, before making his way upstairs to see if she was perhaps up in her room?

But still seeing no sign of her, Morph began to really worry and was on the verge of contacting the Professor through the psi-link that he had established with all of his students. He wound up putting that idea on the backburner, when a scant glance out of a second-floor window was just enough to put his own mind at ease. It was at the sight of seeing Mariko outside on the estate's ample and spacious grounds, seated at the edge of the somewhat dense woodlands that surrounded the Xavier property. Scrambling back down the lengthy staircase in no time, Morph easily cleared the substantial distance across the rear lawn just as quickly, heading towards the cliffside edge of the Institute's woodland-shrouded property that overlooked Central Bay.

As he approached from the mansion, Morph observed that Mariko was just sitting out there underneath a rather large oak tree, with her back up against it and still dressed in her team uniform. Mariko had her arms wrapped up around her knees, pulling them in closely into her chest, as she kept her head face-down and pressed against the back of hands that were gloved in black Kevlar-knit, the faint sounds of her muffled sniffles growing increasingly louder the closer that Morph got to her.

It looked as though Mariko had formed something of a protective ball with her entire body, perhaps as a physical means of expressing an inner-desire to find a way to emotionally shield herself from a world that just seemed to continually hurt and let her down. When she had originally agreed to Professor Xavier's offer to come back here to Bayville with him to, in his words, 'become a part of something greater than herself', Mariko thought that she had found a place where she would finally be accepted, a place where she belonged.

But now, she wasn't quite so sure anymore?

For the better part of a month now, since her arrival at this private school, Mariko had wholly dedicated herself to learning how to master her powers, all in an attempt to play catch-up and bring her abilities up to par with those of her teammates'. It was one reason why she didn't mind all of the extra, solitary training sessions that Professor Xavier had her run in the Danger Room. Going through countless tests and exercises on her own, so that she could get his approval to allow her to participate in workouts with the rest of the team. But, feeling as though she had failed and let them all down, Mariko had been sitting out here on this sunny and breezy afternoon contemplating her role on that team, and whether she even deserved a place among the X-Men?

Her moment of introspection came to an abrupt end, however, when the sound of nearby footsteps got Mariko's attention, causing her to look up at this incomer.

"If you don't mind, I kind of need to be alone right now." Mariko sighingly said to Morph, as she briefly gazed up at him through her reddened and tear-wracked eyes.

Eyes, which were somewhat obscured, thanks to Mariko's jet-black hair now hanging unbound in front of her face. This was due to the small hair-bands, which she normally used to tie and keep her hair up in two fairly long pigtails, having come loose during her impromptu sprint outdoors in her quest for momentary solitude. But, in spite of Mariko's making him feel somewhat unwelcome out here, Morph wasn't about to let that dishearten him at all.

"Well, you sure don't look like someone who needs to be alone right now." Morph replied, as his hand reshaped itself into a large magnifying glass.

Which Morph, who now in his temporary guise of Sherlock Holmes, was using to look at Mariko with during his pseudo-examination of her. Mariko didn't bother to protest his assertion, in fact, she didn't really respond at all. Instead, she just sat there with her chin resting comfortably against her hands up on her knees, her saddened-expression now looking out onto the sparkling bay in front of them. Meanwhile, Morph came over and took a seat underneath the tree right beside her.

"You know, Logan was just being a butt-head back there." Morph now said, breaking the awkward silence that had crept up between him and Mariko, as he too leaned back up against the tree and nervously ran his fingers through the blades of grass on the ground between them.

"Maybe. Or, maybe he was just being right?" Mariko replied, as she fleetingly glanced over at Morph, before turning her focus back out over Central Bay.

Then, another passing intermission in their conversation had came and went, before Mariko wound up ending it this time.

"You know, when I was running out here, part of me seriously thought about not stopping here and wanted to just keep on going." Mariko told him, as she used her finger to trace along an imaginary path that went well past the cliff's edge in front of them.

But, her revelation drew an instant and very animated response from Morph.

"**Are you crazy**? **You can't just go off and kill yourself like that**!" Morph beseechingly said, as he jumped to his feet and now stood up right in front of Mariko. It seemed that Morph was almost subconsciously positioning himself as a human barricade to lay on that imaginary path-line between Mariko, and the overhang that she had just pointed over towards.

"Um, Morph, calm down. It's okay." Mariko replied, as she too quickly sprang up to her feet and put her hand up on Morph's shoulder, "Remember, I can fly."

Which drew an '_Oh. Yeah._' facial expression from Morph, at having been reminded of that particular fact.

And, at long last, Mariko permitted a small smile to discreetly creep across her face to accompany her diversionary quip, all in an effort to try to assuage Morph's concerns about her. Which, Mariko knew had to be an obviously genuine concern for her well-being, if it caused Morph to react in the manner that he did, and that she greatly appreciated being the recipient of from him. Mariko then gestured to Morph for him to go ahead and sit back down, as they both retook their positions and settled back down on the grass, once again leaning with their backs up against the tree.

"What I meant, was that I was seriously thinking about just taking off and heading someplace else." Mariko clarified for Morph, as they both noticed a shipping-steamer going by in the far-off horizon, "Then I realized, where would I go? Especially since going back home is completely out of the question, which would leave me back out on the streets again--"

"Wait, who said you have to go anywhere?" Morph inquired, as he interrupted her aloud cogitations.

"It's just…well, I don't think I'm really fitting in here." Mariko confessed, as she now turned her entire body towards Morph to face him at an angle, her arms still propped up across the top of her knees, with her chin gently resting up on them.

"That really is crazy talk. You belong here just as much as anybody else." Morph unwaveringly replied, as he somewhat humorously gave her a thumbs-up gesture on his hand as big as Texas. And, did so with a thumb that was itself swelling up enough in size to match, which brought yet another small smile to Mariko's face.

"You're just saying that to be nice." Mariko skeptically stated, which forced Morph to find a way to prove that he was sincere about his assertion, as only he could.

"C'mon, would these lips lie to you?" Morph asked, as he puckered-up said lips and spoke with a noticeable droning-pitch now clearly evident in his voice. His features then quickly morphed to simulate those of President Bush, as envisioned through Dana Carvey.

It was an imitation of an imitation, ironically enough, but still easily managed to draw an uncontrolled fit of laughter out of Mariko.

"Morph, you are too much!" Mariko shrieked in delight, as she looked at Morph's impersonation and continued with her heavy giggling.

"See, that's what I'm talking about. You're the only one around here who at least gets my jokes." Morph replied, as his physical features once again reverted back to normal, "You see the crowd I'd have to play to back in there, if you left? You can't do that to me."

He was of course referring to Ororo, Logan, John, and Professor Xavier with his comments, and the fact that he didn't think that they fully appreciated the humor and wit that he attempted to deliver through most of his antics.

"So, what do you say?" Morph asked Mariko, this time with a slightly pouty-expression on his face added for a subtle, yet intentional, emphasis.

"Okay, you win. There's no way I can resist those puppy-dog eyes of yours." Mariko happily replied, realizing that with a friend like Morph willing to go to such great lengths to make her feel welcome here, that she perhaps wasn't quite as alone or out of place at the Xavier Institute as she had thought.

"Excellent…" Morph now replied, this time in a slow, drawn out voice and with a dopey-smile on his face. This generally bald teen suddenly began sporting a brunette, shoulder-length mullet hairstyle and he was now also wearing a black baseball cap on his head, which read 'Morph's World' across the front of it in bold white letters.

Then, with their mutual understanding reached, both Morph and Mariko sat there under the oak tree, this time the silence between them far more natural and comfortable. They looked out onto Central Bay and relaxingly watched the ships off in the distance continuing to pass in and out of the harbor, with the late-afternoon/early evening sun reflecting off of the water serving as the eye-catching backdrop to this semi-private and tranquil scene.

**…………………………………….………………**

Meanwhile, as Morph was outdoors connecting with Mariko, another meeting of the minds was about to take place inside, right above the very Danger Room that the two teens had been in downstairs moments earlier.

"So, you call me up here so you can get in your shot at roughin' me up some too?" Logan sarcastically asked, as he walked in through the entrance of the control booth where Professor Xavier currently was.

"No, I believe that there has been enough of that today." Professor Xavier replied, as he sat with his back to the control booth's console and watched as the steel sliding doors closed behind Logan.

"Well?" Logan asked again, the impatience evident both in his tone of voice and in his body's fairly agitated mannerisms.

"I want to talk about what happened in the Danger Room today." Professor Xavier said, looking up slightly at this man standing before him.

"Is that so?" Logan gruffly replied, and decided to swiftly get to the point of what Xavier was hinting at, "Because all the life-sized blow dryers in the world ain't gonna change things. I meant what I said done there, the girl's not ready, none of them are. Not, for what you're gettin' us ready to go up against."

"Individual skills aside, our greatest asset is going to be how well the X-Men learn to work together, and to rely on one another, as a team." Professor Xavier stated, as he sunk back into his chair a little, clasping his hands together and resting them up against the front lapels of his sepia-brown blazer, "Right now, developing all of you into a singular unit is my number one goal, which I would think that you above all would understand and appreciate."

"I know all about bein' a part of a team. Hell, I ran with a pretty wild crew for awhile myself." Logan replied, as he went over and grabbed a lightweight steel-chair beside Professor Xavier. Logan then placed it, with the back of the chair spun around, right in front of Xavier and took a seat in it before he continued, "Difference was those guys could all pull their own weight and didn't need their hands' held every step o' the damn way. Unlike, the zit-brigade you got me babysittin' day-in and day-out down there."

As Logan pointed over through the control booth's large observation window at the now dormant Danger Room below, Professor Xavier proceeded to lightly clear his throat before responding.

"Just give them time, they will improve. They've already done so, by leaps and bounds, in the short time that all of you have been here." Professor Xavier said to Logan, acknowledging that there was some air of validity to his grievance.

"Why don't cha just level with me Chuck, straight-up? What do you think you're gonna accomplish by recruitin' a buncha kids to fight this war for you, other than gettin' one o' them wasted?" Logan asked, as he sat in his backwards-turned chair with both arms propped up on the top of its back, "I know with that Cerebro machine you got, that you coulda easily found a couple more of us who're able to, at least, go out and buy a six-pack."

"The day is quickly drawing closer where the rest of the world will know that mutants exist, and that we walk and live among them. We have to be ready to bridge the rift that new reality will inevitably create, and with that comes the unavoidable responsibility of defending humanity against those who wish to wage war or do harm against us all, whether they be humans or mutants." Professor Xavier answered, as he spoke passionately about these core beliefs of his, "But, that which we are doing here is about more than us fighting others. It is also about forging the future, a better and brighter one. And those 'kids' that you are referring to, will be instrumental in that capacity. Their youthful optimism better enables them to believe that such a dream of peaceful coexistence can truly be achieved."

"Sounds like what you want is some sorta mutant pep-squad. Problem is, I don't fit into that little mold o' yours." Logan said, as he stood up from his chair and looked at Professor Xavier, "I'm a soldier, a trained killer, probably the best there is at it. I got no illusions about what we'll be goin' up against, what we'll have to do to for our own survival's sake, 'cause I already have a hundred times over. I'm tellin' you right now, this fight is gonna get real ugly, real quick, and you're just deludin' yourself if you're thinkin' otherwise."

To further illustrate his point, Logan popped the claws from out one of his hands, putting on display those personal keepsakes left to him courtesy of the Weapon X program. Logan then stood there and glared intensely at Professor Xavier, almost as though he was trying to stare a hole right through him, before Professor Xavier made one last comment to him.

"In my life, I have been privy to some of the worst atrocities that the human mind can conjure, so do not presume to believe that I am simply seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. In fact, I have fought in a few battles of my own that have come at a very steep and personal toll, of which I still have the scars, and a souvenir here, to prove." Professor Xavier said to Logan in a solemn tone, as he carefully ran a hand over one of the chrome-alloy wheels on the right side of this wheelchair that he was, for the most part, now confined to.

And knowing full-well what Professor Xavier was alluding to, Logan gave him a simple nod as his only response, before turning around and exiting the control booth. Leaving Professor Xavier behind to now mull over the no-holds barred opinions that Logan had just expressed to him, which in many ways resonated with his own experiences during his life.

After doing a quick psi-scan to check on how Mariko was doing, revealing to him that she was indeed okay and was currently in the company of Morph, Professor Xavier allowed himself the brief luxury of reminiscing on those days long since past, which had been relegated to the recesses of his memory. He was instantly drawn back into them and to a chance encounter with a being, who to him, was the embodiment of the very evil that he had been talking about.

And, borne out of this violent confrontation with this individual all of those years ago in Egypt, was the realization about the power and responsibility that he had and owed, which wound up becoming the impetus behind Professor Xavier's initial decision to form his X-Men in the first place.


	3. Train in Vain

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**……………………………………………………………**

Chapter 3- Train in Vain

"…will conclude today's lesson. For our next class, we will be covering derivatives and differentiations, so I want each of you to read through chapter 6 for your homework assignment. I strongly advise that you pay particular and careful attention to the Lagrange, Leibniz, and Newton notations, as these rule-variations will also be on your upcoming quiz."

With his instructions now given and the calculus book on top of his desk now closed, Professor Xavier proceeded to dismiss his undersized class, which consisted of Ororo Monroe, John Proudstar, and Mariko Yashida. Professor Xavier sat there and watched as his three students all stood up from their chairs, which had been placed in a semi-circle pattern before him in front of his rectangular wooden desk, and then turned around to exit from his study.

"Man, I'm never gonna get this calculus stuff!" Was the self-declaration made by John, as soon as he and his classmates were out in the hallway and on the other side of the now closed door to the Professor's study.

In addition, John loudly slapped the fairly thick calculus textbook in his hand up against the side of his jeans, to help further illustrate his sense of frustration when it came to understanding the subject of advanced mathematics.

"I must say that I am feeling very much in agreement with you." Ororo now added, as she too was experiencing a bit of trepidation similar to John's. But, Ororo herself was content in holding her textbook up against the front of her rose-colored blouse with both arms criss-crossed in front of her, as the trio now made their way down the hallway corridor together.

Her worry was in spite of the fact that Ororo had made considerable strides in a very short amount of time when it came to academics. Especially when taking into account that she, until recently, had received very little in the way of a formal education. Most of Ororo's turbulent childhood had been spent living as a thief on the streets, and instead of being taught in the confines of a traditional classroom setting, had learned the majority of her influencing life-lessons from the school of hard-knocks.

"You guys are getting yourselves worked up over nothing. All you have to remember when working with integrals or derivatives, is to take it one step at a time." Mariko reassuringly told her two classmates, as she had slipped her calculus textbook into the small Hello Kitty bookbag slung over her right shoulder, while they continued on.

"Yeah, or we could do like him, and just go on summer vacation early." John smirkingly replied, as he, Mariko, and Ororo now arrived at the mansion's living room entrance, only to be greeted by the sight and sound of their other classmate in there.

"_Givitaway givitaway givitaway now,_

_Givitaway givitaway givitaway now,_

_Givitaway givitaway givitaway now,_

**_Ahhhhh... AW, YEAH_**!"

Who, had been conspicuously absent from today's class with the Professor. And now, they could see how he had been so productively utilizing that time.

"Oh, hey guys." Morph replied, as he suddenly paused from his rocking-out imitation of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and quit jumping up and down long enough to realize that he was no longer in the living room by himself.

"Hey…uh, yourself there Morph." Mariko replied with a modest grin, as she and the others couldn't help but notice Morph's rather striking appearance, as he stood there in front of the TV shirtless with just a pair of tight spandex pants and boots on.

But, what drew these astounded glares from Ororo, Mariko, and John was the fact that Morph's entire body was covered in a shiny, metallic-hued silver paint, all in addition to him having a number of varying and odd-shaped horns that were sticking out all over from heat to toe.

"Don't tell me you're working on some sorta extra-credit dance assignment for music appreciation?" John jokingly said, as he came over and took a seat on the sofa behind Morph, dropping his calculus book down on the coffee table in front of him with a heavy thud.

"Nah, I'm just taking a break and unwinding a little bit with this week's Top Twenty countdown on The Video Channel." Morph replied, as he turned around to face John, all the while transforming his physical features back to his plain clothed, pasty skin-toned baseform that he generally maintained.

"Unwinding, from what, exactly?" Ororo said and asked Morph the question foremost in all of their minds, as she came and took a seat on the sofa beside John, astutely grabbing the remote off of the coffee table, before he or anyone else could get to it first.

"From the way Morph's spazzin' out in here, I'd say it's from him reaching the max-limit of how much TV he can watch before his head is about to pop." John quipped, as he relaxingly placed both of his broad arms up on the back of the sofa and sank back into it, while the music video that had been playing on TV was now coming to an end.

"I've still got a few days worth of boob-toobage space left upstairs, so no worry there. I even think I can hit all the major channels bein' pulled in by that huge satellite dish Professor Xavier's got out back, before the old gray-matter finally does conk out." Morph replied with a huge sarcastic smile, and lightly tapped against the side of his right temple with two of his fingers, before he continued, "Actually, I've been waiting for all of you to get finished with the Professor. I've got a one-on-one session with him next."

"Tutoring, huh?" Mariko assumingly inquired, having in the meantime taken a seat in another chair that was adjacent to the sofa and laid her bookbag off to its side, all the while Ororo had begun channel-surfing with the remote now in her hand.

"Sorta. He wants me to work with him on writing an upgrade to the Danger Room's computer software. I mean, seeing as I am pretty good with that kinda stuff." Morph crossed his arms over in front and replied, doing so with an obvious hint of pride in his voice at having been selected for such a special task by their Headmaster.

"Since when do you know the first thing about computers?" John scoffingly asked, as he suddenly sat up straight on the sofa. It had never even occurred to John, or the others for that matter, that someone as hyperactive as Morph could have any interests that lay outside of his usual goofing-off.

"Well, since I built my first one when I was six." Morph answered John, this time with a more serious expression, before he then turned his attention back over towards Mariko, "So, once we get finished making the repairs to the Danger Room, we'll be back in business running training-sims again in there with your favorite person."

And with that statement, Mariko knew exactly to whom Morph was referring.

"Hmmph. Can't wait." Mariko groaned in response, as she sat there in the chair with her curled-up hand serving to prop up the downcast look on her face, her tone for the first time this afternoon far less enthusiastic than it had previously been.

"Speaking of Logan, has anyone seen him lately?" Ororo now asked, as she sat leaning slightly forward on the sofa and attentively continued her search through the numerous channels and programs on this big-screen television before them.

"Been spending most of his time hangin' out in the woods around the mansion." John looked over and replied to Ororo, before turning back to see that she had stopped on a news-alert being broadcast on one of the local channels.

"Knowing that big jerk, he's probably out there yelling and screaming at Bambi, blaming him for screwing up and getting his mother killed." Mariko scornfully replied from her seated vantage off to the side, which was also the first time that the others had ever heard her make anything that remotely resembled a belittling remark about another person.

And, it also revealed to them just how deeply Logan's beratement of Mariko a few weeks earlier had hurt her feelings, and that she still very much carried that pain around inside of her. But just then, all four teens' attention was immediately drawn over to the television as the on-the-scene reporter came on to deliver this live report from downtown Manhattan.

"…_subterranean creatures' rampage was once again halted and turned back, thanks to the efforts of the super-powered sensations aptly dubbed as The Fantastic Four. Whom, you may recall gained their own bizarre abilities following an orbital accident last year while onboard an experimental spacecraft designed by noted scholar Dr. Reed Richards, who was also present at the time of this freak occurrence…" _

"Man, if the Prof wasn't so paranoid about the public knowing about us mutants, we could SO be as big as those guys. I'm talking Fantastic 5 here guys!" Morph said to the others, as the news report went on to catalog the extensive damage left in the wake of this desperate battle in the heart of New York City.

"…_But, their most outspoken critics and detractors have not hesitated to point out, time and again, the fact that these strange and unusual incidents within the confines of the city didn't start happening on a seemingly regular basis until the Fantastic Four's much publicized, and very controversial decision, to purchase and then convert the upper levels of the Baxter high-rise building into their official headquarters in the heart of downtown Manhattan. There have also been rumors of a petition being floated around by some of their neighbors that would force the Fantastic Four to move, citing a litany of disturbance of the peace counts, along with fears of there being possible contamination to the area from the same radiological exposure from outer space that originally gave them their fantastic powers…"_

Meanwhile, Morph had stopped paying attention to the news report on TV, his thoughts having now drifted off further into his daydreams of him and his teammates becoming super-powered celebrities, and receiving the world-renowned accolades associated with such a level of social status.

"I can see it now, The Amazing Morph and Friends. Mariko and Ororo, you two would be my beautiful and very able-bodied sidekicks. John, you could be my numero-uno amigo and all-around ladies man, second only to me of course, who works part-time as a used car salesman when you're in your secret identity. And Logan, he would be the grouchy, but slightly loveable landlord, who lives on the floor below our penthouse headquarters. And the Professor, the Professor he…"

"Um, looks like he's gone off into another one of his Three's Company fantasies. Again." Mariko said, as she, Ororo, and John sat and continued their observation of Morph's uninterrupted chatter, which was thanks to his sometimes overactive-imagination.

"And, if it's like last time, he might be off in la-la land for a while too." John added with a sigh, as he once again sank back into the sofa.

"Still, it's better than having him run around the mansion and shout 'Homey don't play that' at us every five seconds." Mariko smirked, as she reminded them of Morph's antics from just the other night.

"Or worse yet, having to watch him use his powers to turn himself into a fish out-of-water, and then flop around helplessly all over the kitchen floor." Ororo also posed to them, while Morph was now completely oblivious to their conversation about him, he himself currently too preoccupied with rambling off the main plot of this figmental life of his in greater detail.

But neither Morph, nor the rest of his teammates', could ignore the sudden sensation of the entire mansion shaking around them, as an explosive sonic-boom seemed to erupt from out of nowhere directly above the Institute. Which, rocked them all right out of their seats and knocked them down to the floor.

"**What…the HELL was that**?!" John was the first to wonder very much aloud, after picking himself up off of the floor and quickly jumping to his feet, relaying through his statement the exact sentiments of what the others in the room were also thinking at that moment.

Then, they all received at least a partial answer from Professor Xavier, who contacted them from his study through a telepathic psi-link that he maintained with all of his students.

"_I fear that Logan is under attack and in grave danger. Sunfire, since you are the fastest in the air and capable of reaching him first, I want you to head to the southeastern edge of the estate without delay. The others will be along shortly_." Were the brief and only instructions given to them by Professor Xavier.

Noting his having referred to Mariko by her code-name, and the sense of urgency relayed to them through Professor X's mental message, his students' all knew that this was a matter that the X-Men were about to become involved in. And Mariko did just as been requested of her without any second-thoughts, hopping up from her chair and dashing off from the living room through the foyer to the front door of the mansion. Where upon opening it, she ignited her 'atomic flame' and enveloped her entire being in a radiant ball of energy, rapidly building it up in intensity before launching herself from the concrete steps of the front stoop just ahead of her fellow X-Men, who were following closely behind in her footsteps.

It was a catapulting effect that Mariko and Professor X had developed using her mutant powers, which she had been practicing and perfecting during her solo Danger Room sessions for a while now. And the sheer sight of her rocketing through the air like a streaking arrow that had been set ablaze now displayed to her teammates', without a doubt, how and why she had earned the codename of Sunfire.

**…………………………………………………**

For the last couple of weeks, ever since 'the incident' down in the Danger Room, there had been a very noticeable friction left between Logan and the rest of his fellow X-Men. But, when the Danger Room unexpectedly went on the fritz not too long afterwards, it wound up putting the team's daily training sessions on an unavoidable hiatus. It also provided Logan with even more of an excuse to distance himself from the Institute's other residents, with the proverbial loner spending more and more of his time off alone in the dense woodland areas that lay around the mansion.

And while Logan would have preferred to retain his secluded isolation out here, circumstances beyond his control had come and decided to interject themselves to the contrary.

"_Professor, is this attack related to the news report that we just saw from New York City_?" Sunfire telepathically asked, as she quickly flew over the estate grounds towards the destination coordinates that Professor Xavier had relayed through his psi-distress call to her and the other X-Men.

"_From what I can gather, I do not believe so. But, I suggest that we hurry, so as to find out for certain_." Professor Xavier replied, as he then abruptly cut his communication with Sunfire and put all of his concentration towards telepathically pointing her in the direction that he had last sensed Logan, where the feral X-Men had registered a tremendous of pain before being knocked unconscious.

In a matter of seconds, Sunfire was right over the area that Professor X had mentally dispatched her towards. Almost immediately, she spotted Logan lying down in a small clearing within a thick tree grove in an outlying section of the estate property, and observed that he was indeed out cold. Sunfire then saw that someone else was down there with Logan, someone who was currently standing right over his unconscious form.

An individual, who himself was dressed in a hooded, red-and-white jumpsuit that had been fashioned to strongly resemble a Canadian flag wrapped around his entire body. Which, had earned him the codename of Weapon Alpha from the Canadian government's clandestine Department H.

Logan, who himself had been designated as Weapon X initially during his tenure with Department H, before reverting back to his codename of Wolverine, had been involved in a fairly friendly conversation with this man a few minutes prior to Sunfire's arrival. Which is usually how Logan and James MacDonald Hudson's interactions began, but rarely ended. And just as the last time when they had talked, emotions soon got in the way and managed to get the better of each man.

Their conversation then escalated into an outright confrontation that wound up turning very violent, very quickly, as a result of their contentious disagreement about Logan not living up to the responsibilities that Mac felt his former partner owed to their home country, and most especially to him. Although unknown to Mac, Logan had thought that he was doing just that? Logan's decision had been far more complicated then he had let on, due to the 'real' reason that he had decided to leave, which was out of the deep respect that he held for his old friend.

Regardless, at the moment the only thing that Sunfire cared about was the fact that her teammate appeared to have been laid out flat by this mysterious masked individual, and that it was now up to her to come to Logan's aid.

And that is exactly what she did.

Rocketing downward and launching into a specific attack angle, Sunfire cut loose with a concentrated heat-blast against an unawares Weapon Alpha, whose attention was completely preoccupied with his fallen quarry before him. Weapon Alpha wound up paying the price for his negligence, as he was nailed square in his back by this searing jolt from above, all thanks to his inattention.

"**Arrrgghh…I've got incoming**!" Weapon Alpha said, his attention now most definitely grabbed, as he turned to look back up at Sunfire hovering overhead and seemed to be speaking to an unknown third party through some form of two-way communicator built into his suit, "Somebody, give me some stats on, whoever, that girl up there is!"

This, as sparks and a few small flames had shot out of from some of the decorative suit's miniature sensor-packs that were located at and around the point of impact. Sunfire had managed to fry and damage some of the suit's circuitry underneath all in one shot, before these small fires were quelled by the suit's internal extinguishing system. But, steeling himself to face this latest entrant, Weapon Alpha would quickly prove that the unique outfit he had on was not being worn merely for show or out of some vain desire to be fashionably different, but that this skin tight cybernetic exo-suit had functionality that literally turned its wearer into a living weapon of war.

After the visual scanners affixed to the small, transparent plates in the eyelets of Weapon Alpha's mask had surveyed and then relayed images of Sunfire hovering up above back to Alpha-Base, a quick and thorough assessment of her powers and abilities had been completed. With that raw data expeditiously processed, a course of action had been determined and those orders relayed back to Weapon Alpha through his comm-link, which revealed her perceived weaknesses and how best for him to exploit them tactically.

Unleashing an enormous concussive repulsor-beam right at Sunfire, Weapon Alpha proceeded to make the most of the information at his disposal. While Sunfire easily dodged the beam, and then a second one aimed at her immediately right afterwards, she was unwittingly playing right into Weapon Alpha's strategy. Now that he was getting a better idea of her maneuvering capabilities in the air, Weapon Alpha knew the best way to approach, and then finish, this fight with Sunfire.

After firing a third repulsor-blast that Sunfire also dodged, this time almost effortlessly, Weapon Alpha caught her off-guard by simultaneously launching himself up into the air right behind the blast, flying towards Sunfire at near super-sonic speeds. The resulting thrust of his suit manipulating the Earth's electro-magnetic and gravitational fields to accomplish this feat, wound up creating yet another sonic-boom similar to the one heard above the mansion earlier, in addition to driving a twenty-foot deep crater into the ground beneath him.

But, Sunfire wasn't given the luxury or even the opportunity to observe this, as Weapon Alpha landed a single and devastating body-shot against her left side, breaking two of her ribs and knocking the wind out of her as a result. Now left unconscious herself, Mariko tumbled down helplessly from far above the Earth, and without her powers to help slow or cushion her fall. But, she certainly would not be without help for long.

Running and arriving just in time to catch her, a now revived Wolverine managed to jump and grab the falling Sunfire in his arms, doing a front-flip and a forward tumble on the ground to counteract the momentum of her fall, and used his own body as a cushion to prevent Sunfire from being further injured. Placing her out gently on the ground before him, Wolverine then stood back up and turned his attention to his old friend, who was now landing in this open clearing a few yards from the pair.

"So, you taken to beatin' on defenseless girls now, Mac?" Wolverine admonishingly asked, as he stood and ripped off what was left of the shredded marigold-colored lumberjack shirt, which he had been wearing before this fight started.

"Ha! In case you haven't noticed, that girl is anything but defenseless. Besides, she attacked me first and decided to involve herself in this sanctioned military operation. That makes her a hostile combatant, and fair game under the rules of engagement. You should know that better than anyone, Logan!" Weapon Alpha bitterly replied, as he stood in a prepared stance directly across from Wolverine, both men ready to continue this battle at a moments notice.

And so they did, as Wolverine popped the adamantium claws from his hands with a smooth 'Snikt' sound, and Weapon Alpha supercharged his guardian suit with a repulsor energy field that enclosed around his entire body. Wolverine didn't waste anytime in launching into an attack of his own, with claws and blind rage now being dished out against Weapon Alpha.

Weapon Alpha knew from first-hand experience precisely how dangerous Wolverine could be with those indestructible claws of his. But, even though his pressure force-field provided almost little to no protection against energy-based weapons or attacks, Weapon Alpha had been the one who had developed it originally as a means of gaining a distinct advantage in close-range and hand-to-hand confrontations especially, by the wearer being able to deflect solid matter projected at it. And, he estimated that it would only be a matter of time before Wolverine either slipped up and fell into another one of his mindless beserker rages, and once again gave him an opening to take him down for good. Or would just plain tire himself out, as evidenced by the fact that Wolverine's feverish hacking and slashing attacks were not penetrating Weapon Alpha's artificially generated force-field.

What Weapon Alpha had not accounted for, however, was the fact that Sunfire had only been the first arrival, in what would be a slightly larger contingent of reinforcements to come.

"_**Gaanng-way**! **Morph-ball special comin' thru**_!"

But, just as Weapon Alpha was hearing the first part of this exclamation, and before he could even react, he was hit in the center of his chest with an object that, ironically enough, seemed to be traveling at the speed of sound itself as it passed right by Wolverine and connected with its intended target. And, despite the fact that his pressure-field in theory should easily block out any form of solid physical attack, the force behind this large metallic shot-put was great enough that Weapon Alpha still managed to feel it a little, and he let out a barely audible 'Whoomph' when it hit. He was then thrown backwards from the momentum of being struck by such a dense object and was sent hurtling through the air, only stopping when he crashed into the large trunk of a nearby oak tree behind him.

"Aaannnd, yer out!" Were the next words spoken as Morph, who in the guise of a large talking steel-baseball, bounced around on the ground beside a slightly dazed James Hudson, before proceeding to transform himself into a large wooden baseball bat with human-like legs and arms.

"And, Bat-man has left the building…" Morph jocularly said next, as he sprouted bat-wings on the back of his Bayville-slugger body, and then flew off up above the surrounding tree line.

Meanwhile, the sound of thunder rolling could now be heard off in the distance, as the sky went from mostly sunny to being overcast with pitch-black clouds in only a matter of a few seconds. Which announced the arrival of Storm to this altercation, as she gracefully descended down into the clearing upon heavy wind-gusts that now swirled about, her eyes now aglow with a bright-white iridescence that stood in stark contrast to the atmosphere above them.

Storm was joined down here by Thunderbird, who before using Morph to play catch with Weapon Alpha, had gone and broken off a very large branch from another of the nearby trees. And as T-bird made his way over towards a now mostly-recovered Weapon Alpha, he was gently tapping one side of this hastily-made wooden club against the open palm of his other hand. It was all in anticipation of Thunderbird getting to be the next batter up and finish what he and Morph had started, by using this stranger's skull now in place of a 'Morph-ball', or an actual baseball.

But, Weapon Alpha's real concern was with Storm. Once the X-Men's field-leader had gotten the opportunity to briefly appraise the situation, the first thing that she noticed was Mariko lying slumped over on the ground behind Wolverine. The result was a frighteningly powerful lightning-bolt that lit up the sky and struck from the thunderclouds above, hitting Storm directly as she absorbed this huge electrical discharge entirely, and did so without batting an eye. It caused Storm's entire body to crackle and radiate from the tremendous voltage now flowing through her. And judging from the infuriated look that she shot over in his direction, Weapon Alpha had a good idea as to where, and to whom, Storm was planning on sending all of this extra juice now at her disposal.

"Alpha to Alpha-Base. I'm scrubbing this mission-op, there have been too many unknown variables introduced." Weapon Alpha said into his comm-link, and then paused a moment as if he were listening to an individual on the other end saying something to him, before he responded to them, "No, just leave the Epsilons there in the transport. I'll be returning to the rendezvous-point shortly."

Weapon Alpha then made a brief scan of all the other individuals in the clearing now there with him, before turning to speak to Logan. Although, his words could have been taken as being a warning to them all.

"This isn't over, Logan. General Chasen wants you back, one way or another, so that you can answer for your betrayal. And, next time you can be sure that the rest of The Flight will be with me, to help even the numbers up against you and your new friends!" Weapon Alpha scathingly remarked to them, an instant before he used his guardian suit to take to the sky, disappearing over the horizon in just a matter of a few seconds.

Left behind in the aftermath of this climactic battle, the X-Men should have been celebrating their apparent victory. But instead, they were left with nothing but questions and wondering what it was that had just happened? Particularly for one amongst them, who had missed Weapon Alpha's fairly dramatic departure.

"Owww…" Mariko moaned, as she had just regained consciousness and was beginning to stir, now slowly turning herself over so that she could sit up on the grassy patch underneath her. Mariko then suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side, which was from the damaging blow that Weapon Alpha had delivered to her earlier.

"So, who the hell was that guy anyways?" John asked, as he by this time had dropped the large tree-branch from his hand, and used a single finger to point up over the horizon in the general direction that Weapon Alpha had departed towards.

Which caused Mariko to instinctively look up into the sky where John was pointing, a sky that had now been returned back to its previous serene and mostly sunny state by Ororo. Mariko then surveyed the entire horizon with her innate mutant ability to view objects through heat resonation, a trait that she shared in varying degrees with a few of her fellow X-Men, but was still unable to locate any traces of Weapon Alpha.

"An old friend. One, who ain't feelin' all too-friendly with me at the moment, though." Logan replied, as he walked over into the center of the loose circle that they were all standing in and replied to John's question about this individual, who had shown up and started a small-scale war at their front door.

"Big surprise there." Morph sarcastically remarked about Logan's comment, which relayed his opinion of Logan's brash way of treating others, including them, and the remaining animosity that he felt towards him because of it.

"And he ain't gonna be too happy with any of you either, for that matter. Especially, after what just happened out here today." Logan was saying, when his tone started to become more agitated and angry, " Speaking of which, I don't recall askin' any of you kids' to come out here and get involved in this anyways?!"

Then, almost on cue, Logan received an unexpectedly vocal answer to his rhetorical question, and once again from a most unexpected source.

"**You didn't and shouldn't have to**! We're X-Men, and that means we look out for each other and watch each other's backs, simple as that. Even, if you don't want to get that through that thick-skull of yours!" Mariko sharply and loudly replied to Logan, as she quickly jumped up to her feet from the ground where she had been seated, clutching her side with a single arm in the process, as she finally and symbolically stood up to Logan as well.

"If you attack one of us, then you attack all of us." Ororo said next, as she echoed Mariko's sentiment, standing there with both of her arms folded over in front of her.

"Yeah, 'Pops'." John ribbingly remarked, doing so with an appellation for Logan that was in direct correlation to his constantly referring to them as 'kids'.

"Ditto." Morph added last, deciding for just this one time to allow his teammates' to have the last say for a change.

Then, still reeling from her extremely painful injury, Mariko doubled-over from the strain now being placed against her broken ribs from having been standing back upright again, and almost passed out from an overwhelming dizziness and disorientation that rapidly hit her. Luckily, John's incredible speed and agility allowed him to rush the short distance over to where Mariko was and catch her before she fell down. John then picked his injured teammate up into his massive arms, cradling her semi-faint form in them.

As John tended to Mariko, Logan stood there staring and silently watching them all. Then, he spoke again.

"Better get her to the infirmary, make sure there's no internal bleeding or anything." Logan told them in a fairly cold tone in reference to Mariko, before he then turned around to head back off into the surrounding forest.

Morph, Ororo, and John with Mariko in his arms, all shook their heads at Logan's rather blasé remark and responded by doing much the same as him, quickly turning in the direction towards the mansion so that they could go and tend to their friend's injuries. That is, until they were stopped right in their tracks.

"Guys…"

As Ororo, Morph, John, and a now mostly conscious Mariko turned around to face Logan, they saw him standing there a few yards away and looking right back at them.

"Thanks. All of you." Logan now said to the rest of the X-Men, in reference to them having put their own safety and very lives on the line for him.

Even though it probably wasn't the most eloquent of phrase that could have been uttered, there was an unmistakable hint of sincerity in Logan's voice, which the other X-Men immediately picked up on. As Logan then turned back and disappeared into the thicket off in the distance, the others' now hurried to get Mariko back to the mansion.

And after what they had all been through together this day, the X-Men were now left with a sense that they had just reached something of a new understanding with one another. One, which could perhaps be built upon by them all. Especially with Logan, as he had now begun an earnest re-evaluation of his own opinions and feelings about living and working alongside these 'kids'.

**……………………………………………..…..**

A/N: I just wanted to briefly acknowledge and give credit to UXM #109 written by Chris Claremont and Byrne, for being a significant source and frame of reference for this chapter. And if you haven't had the chance to read it or the other classic X-stories from this era, I highly recommend it for any lover of the X-Men, even if you're strictly a fan of the Evolution series.


	4. Just Another Day

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**……………………………………………………………**

Chapter 4- Just Another Day

At the Xavier Institute in Bayville, New York, a lazy Sunday afternoon atmosphere has comfortably settled in over this place of learning today. Which is something rare this late in the semester, since the students who are enrolled here spend the majority of their time attentively keeping up with the abundantly comprehensive academic course-load assigned to them by their headmaster, Professor Charles Xavier.

And when they are not, their days and evenings are spent preoccupied to a greater extent with a far more intensive schooling that takes place down in the advanced training facility located far below the Institute, appropriately enough referred to by them as the Danger Room. But, like everyone else, Professor X's students also take great pleasure in the chance to just enjoy the simple things in life, such as those normal everyday activities that most people usually take for granted. When they find that they actually do have some free-time to themselves, that is.

Which, may be why Charles Xavier was a bit surprised to sense an approaching presence towards his study this afternoon, as most students' usually tended to get and stay as far away as possible from their teachers on the weekend.

"Professor, mind if I bother you for a minute?"

This was the question being posed, as John Proudstar opened the door to Professor Xavier's study. John hadn't even bothered to knock first, which was due to the fact that in the time since he had been at this school, he had gotten used to Professor Xavier's telepathic abilities and the almost extra-sensory aspect that they afforded him.

"John, of course not. Please, do come in." Professor Xavier replied, as he sat behind his desk with numerous documents and folders both opened and closed before him.

"We saw on TV just now about how they opened up a new mall here in Bayville. So, we were all gonna catch the bus into town and go hang out there for awhile." John said while taking a few steps further into the study's interior and towards the Professor.

"Very well. But, I'm sure that Logan would be more than happy to drive the four of you." Xavier replied, looking up at John briefly, and then back down at two folders in particular on top of a small pile that sat on his desk right in front of him, "I believe I last sensed him out in the garage, if you wouldn't mind passing my request on to him?"

And with that, the matter seemed pretty much open and closed. John then shot a hardened glare at the Professor, whose own gaze was fixated on the documents down in front of him, before turning to leave his study.

"Yeah, he's gonna be thrilled when he hears this." John muttered under his breath, with a tinge of reluctance at the prospect of going out to personally deliver the Professor's 'request' to Logan. Which pretty much carried the weight of, and amounted to, an order. But Professor Xavier always had such a clever, yet direct, way of phrasing such tasks to make them not necessarily seem like it.

Meanwhile, Professor Xavier himself neither heard, nor sensed, the small degree of trepidation emanating from John as he left, mainly due to him being so deeply immersed in his close examination of several mysterious file folders directly in front of him. The first one of these dossier binders before him was marked as 'E. Frost', with the other two underneath it each labeled as 'E. Braddock' and 'H. McCoy' respectively.

They were all alongside another, and much thicker folder on his desk, which had a far more ominous sounding epithet 'United States Government Classified-Confidential: Panel review of the Stark Enterprises Proposed Bid for Project Chimera' on its outer-cover…

**……………………………………………………………**

Once he was outside, the first thing John saw on the short set of steps in front of the doorway, a connecting concrete walkway path, and the outlying ground area was that they were all covered in snow that measured in at least a couple of inches. While one might be tempted to assume that this was a new experience for the Arizona native, the truth was that John was all too familiar with the sight of fallen winter precipitation. What was new to him was the perpetual gray and overcast winter presence in this region that felt as though it lasted for months on end, as opposed to the intermittent cold-snaps and mostly sunny year-round atmosphere of Camp Verde. It was one of the few things that John truly missed about being back home on the reservation, and significantly contributed to his growing feelings of homesickness.

At any rate, it only took John a few minutes to quickly make his way out to the mansion's large auto garage, where true to the Professor's words, he located Logan.

"The Professor sent me out here to find you." John said, announcing his presence as he walked in through the open main exterior door to the garage. Although, Logan's heightened senses had managed to detect John approaching at around twenty paces prior, when he was just about halfway out there.

"Well, looks like you did just that, Proudstar. Somethin' major must be goin' down for Chuck to be sendin' you all the way out here to get me?" Logan surmised, almost enthusiastically, at the prospect of getting to see some battle action.

But, Logan did so without actually looking up at John, and instead continued to tool around under the hood of this used, navy/gray full-sized conversion van that had been bought recently.

Meanwhile, John stood there and just observed his surroundings, initially taking notice of the Bentley stretch limousine and other luxury sedans owned by Professor Xavier from out of the corner of his eye, which were all parked over to the far side of the garage. These refined vehicles were in sharp contrast to this monstrous, yet pragmatic, GMC Vandura that Logan was working on. And, even more so to the beat-up and slightly rusted motorcycle also in the garage, which was propped up against the wall over in another one of its corners.

"Not exactly." John said, as he begun his explanation of why he had really been sent out there, which didn't have anything to do with them going off to fight anyone, "Me and the rest of the gang wanted to head into town, and the Professor 'requested' that you to take us."

"Why? You four don't need a babysitter." Logan remarked, as he came out from under the van's hood, with the timber brown zip-up coveralls that he had on showing barely visible black smudge marks from the engine at various spots all over them. Logan then grabbed a nearby rag off of the garage-floor, wiping his oily hands while looking up at the taller teen.

"Yeah, but we do need a licensed driver. Apparently, Professor Xavier doesn't agree with Morph's theory that three learner's permits equals out to a license in the end." John replied with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, which only increased, "So, then we were all going to just use our powers to fly there, but I don't think that'd sit too well with Xavier either."

"Hmph, I didn't even know that T-birds could fly? I figured you more for the ground-level, cruisin' type." Logan responded in kind, as he bent back down under the hood in front of the van, so that he could hurry and finish up his work on adjusting its carburetor.

"Not so much fly, as run really fast and jump pretty far." John jokingly continued, although there was more than a grain of truth to his words, as he stood off to Logan's side and closely observed what he was doing, "You know, like leaping tall buildings in a single bound. But, without the cape and colorful underwear."

"Uh, huh." Logan now only mumbled, once again far more engrossed in his work at hand.

"The way Xavier likes to flash his cash, I'm surprised he didn't go out and buy a brand new van, instead of this old clunker." John remarked, as he walked around to the right side of the van by the front fender, so as to get a better view of what Logan was doing.

"Maybe, it's because he ain't the one who bought it, kid!" Logan loudly replied from under the hood, and in a tone that made it obvious who the vehicle's purchaser really was, "Besides, toolin' around out here at least gives me somethin' to do, while the rest o' ya are busy sittin' in study hall."

John, still leaning over the front passenger-side quarter panel, immediately realized what Logan was working on with this van, and decided to get involved as well.

"Here, Pops. Let me hold this, while you finish screwing the throttle lever back on." John now offered, as he leaned in under the hood from its side, joining Logan underneath here and securing the carburetor's choke plate firmly with one of his massive hands.

"You know about workin' on cars?" Logan looked over and curiously asked John.

"I might've picked up a thing or two. Here and there." John replied rather facetiously, as he went on to give a helping hand in finishing the reassembly of the van's fuel intake control. Which Logan didn't mind, since an extra pair of hands always made things a bit easier.

John wound up staying out there in the garage with Logan for quite some time. And in the process, these two individuals ended up discovering that they actually had something in common with the other.

**…………………………………………………………………………**

More than an hour later, John made his way back towards the mansion, while Logan stayed behind to find out if, or what difference, their work ultimately had on how the van now ran. As John came in through the front door and approached the central staircase, he made a detour back towards the nearby living room when he heard something.

The loud and unrestrained laughter of Mariko and Morph coming from inside of there.

"Hey guys, what's so funny in here?" John asked, as he poked his head in through the entrance with an inquisitive eyebrow raised.

"Ren & Stimpy." Mariko replied, struggling to get that much out through the fit of laughter that she was now caught up in, as she sat up on the sofa in there with her legs folded over in front and underneath her in an _agura_ position.

"I finally managed to wrangle Mariko here into watching it with me. I'm tellin' you, they're freakin' comic geniuses!" Morph fervidly added, from the sofa where he and Mariko were seated together, and who was cracking up just as much as her over this as well.

"…**_STIMPY, YOU EEEE-DIOTT!"_**

After hearing this, accompanied by a resounding backhand smack that also came from the TV on the other side of the room, John stood and visually took in the sight of this animated cat and dog duo. He then made his own on-the-spot critique of this show that had come on since his having left to go talk to Professor Xavier earlier. And while John definitely had a sense of humor, it was quickly obvious to him that he was seeing something completely different from what his two teammates were. Because, while they were still laughing hysterically at it, John just wasn't feeling the same level of appreciation, as they apparently were, for the lowbrow comedic nature of this cartoon.

Still, John figured to each his own.

And, he was glad to see that Mariko was at least coming out of the doldrums that she had seemed to fall into following her injury, which had occurred a number of weeks ago at the hands of Weapon Alpha, and during her gradual recovery afterwards. John knew that her lift in spirits was in large part due to Morph's constant presence, who had spent most of his free-time keeping Mariko company during her recuperation period. The pair had become almost inseparable during that time, with Morph getting Mariko to open up personality-wise and come out of the introverted shell that she had wrapped around herself before arriving at the Institute.

After briefly informing Morph and Mariko that they would be heading into town to the mall shortly, John decided to leave them to enjoy the show and headed upstairs. He was going to change clothes before they departed, particularly out of his gray, long sleeved cotton-tee that had the Xavier Institute's distinctive 'X' logos on it, which had become slightly soiled while he was working on the van outside with Logan.

Once upstairs, John made his way down the second-floor corridor towards his room and passed by Ororo's bedroom in the process, whom he saw was currently in there.

"Hey, 'Ro." John spoke to Ororo from out in the hallway, her bedroom door left open as she lay on her bed reading The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, which was for a report that she was working on to be soon turned into the Professor.

"Hello, John." Ororo replied, looking up at him before putting her book down and then sitting up on her bed, wearing a very casual white embroidered peasant blouse and a simple pair of calf-length Capri jeans.

Unknown to John was that Ororo, who had earlier in the afternoon been downstairs with him and the others watching TV, had also much like him decided to come up to her room when she too failed to grasp the somewhat crude humor of the animated program that Mariko and Morph had tuned into.

"Logan's gonna drive us over to the mall in a little while." John now said, as he relaxingly leaned with one arm up against the side of the bedroom's doorframe.

"That is very nice of him." Ororo replied, as she shifted herself over to the edge of her bed, her legs slowly gliding across and over in front of her, while her hands slipped back and remained planted firmly behind her for support.

As he stood and observed her, John couldn't help but notice, and once again marvel, at just how genuinely graceful, sophisticated, and beautiful Ororo was in just about everything that she said and did. As well, John also wasn't used to being around someone who was so uninhibited and exuded such confidence in themselves, that they could turn the routine early morning shower into a titillating outdoor experience from the clouds right above the Institute.

Although, he hadn't been the only resident at the Institute to have witnessed this unforgettable sight of their own real-life weather goddess.

Still, every time that John was with Ororo, she left an indelible impression upon him that he was in the presence of a woman able to carry herself well beyond her years. Finding this level of poise and maturity in someone else who was around his own age certainly wasn't something that John was used to seeing. Which, was one of the many striking characteristics that John had found himself becoming uncontrollably attracted to in Ororo over these months since they had arrived at the Institute. It sometimes even caused him to act unnaturally awkward and unsure of himself when he was around her. But, as captivating as Ororo was just by sitting there, an object that was hanging on the wall up over her bed also suddenly managed to equally grab John's undivided attention as well.

"That's a wicked-lookin' blade you got up there." John now remarked to Ororo, doing his best to initiate a decent conversation with her for a change. John then took a couple of steps into her bedroom and pointed up at the large Bowie knife, whose sheathed blade measured about a good eight to ten inches in length, and was mounted above on the wall behind her, "And from the looks, it should be pretty good for hunting too."

"I…have never been." Ororo looked back up at the knife, and then responded to John's hunting comment.

"I could take you sometime and show you a few things. You know, about surviving in the woods. My Dad and Uncle Jack are a couple of the best trackers around, and they taught me everything they know." John now offered her.

"Thank you, but I too have been taught a great many lessons in the art of survival." Ororo replied from her bed's-edge, "Although, some of my former teachers' were nowhere near as noble with their desires to educate me."

"What do you mean?" John asked her and then caught on to her subtle hint a split-second too late, after the question had already been delivered.

"Let's just say that this knife has been used as protection, in self-defense against animals of a decidedly human nature. More or less." Ororo more clearly explained for John's benefit.

"Oh. Then, I'm sorry you needed it at all." John replied, now feeling bad about making his comment to her.

"Perhaps if I had grown up in a family such as yours, I would have been spared such experiences all together." Ororo surmised, as she began to briefly reminisce on her past and her former life.

"What happened to your family, exactly? If you don't mind me asking, I mean." John now more cautiously asked of her, since her family had been something Ororo had conspicuously never talked about.

Even when he, Morph, and Mariko were briefly discussing their backgrounds one night, Ororo pretty much skirted the issue by only stating that she had lived in a great many places, before winding up in the heart of Africa's Serengeti once her mutant weather-powers began to emerge. Ororo then proceeded to abruptly excuse herself, saying that she had a special extra-credit assignment that she needed to go ahead and complete to hand into the Professor.

"My parents…died when I was very young, killed in an earthquake that buried them." Ororo closed her eyes and sighingly revealed to John, doing so for the first time in a very long time to another living soul. And with her admission, the overcast sky outside suddenly turned much darker due to her current emotional state and her increasingly melancholy mood, "And I was buried as well…alongside their decomposing bodies, all of us left underneath that ton of collapsed rubble for days afterwards."

"Whoa…" John said in an almost whisper, in contrast to the far-off sound of thunder that could now also be he heard, and was made all the more unsettling thanks to its out-of-season winter presence.

"And, as you can imagine, that has left me with a chronic aversion to tight and confining spaces." Ororo now finished up, reopening her eyes after having shared some of her most privately held secrets with John, and surprisingly she felt a little better because of it.

"Yeah, I can understand." John somberly told Ororo, not really able to find words to say anything more eloquent than that. Still, he did want to extend his genuine sympathy towards Ororo for what had she been through, which she did unmistakably sense coming from him.

And, John's heartfelt sentiments were very much appreciated by her, as evidenced by the barely noticeable smile now on Ororo's face, while the darkened sky outside just as suddenly cleared up considerably.

But, John decided that he had best quit while he was ahead, as he could tell by the previously deteriorating state of the weather outside that he had obviously hit on a very sore subject with Ororo. And he definitely didn't want her to hate him any more than she must already, for his having brought all of this up in the first place.

"Well, I guess I'd better hurry up, so I can go get changed." John now said, as he hastily prepared to head off to his own room, "See you downstairs, in a little while."

John then left, turning and walking out of Ororo's bedroom without another word said to her. But, with his thoughts already preoccupied and without even thinking about it, John instinctively removed the grease stained, tight-fitting shirt he had on from his oversized frame as he walked out under the doorframe, all in anticipation of his trip down the hallway to his own room. Thus, momentarily showcasing his back with its huge, and extremely well-sculpted, trapezius, latissimus-dorsi and lower back muscles.

Which, unknown to John, certainly didn't go unnoticed by Ororo from her own well-positioned vantage point. As her barely-noticeable smile, now widened considerably at this departing sight.

**………………………………………………………………**

A short time later, and after a few wardrobe changes between them all, Mariko, Ororo, John and Morph all made their way out to the garage. They were now wearing varying styled jackets and coats, along with other winter accessories such as hats, gloves and scarves.

They were met inside of the garage by Logan, who himself had replaced his work coveralls with a simple ensemble consisting of a tan chore-overcoat, jeans, boots, and a very worn-looking black cowboy hat.

"Alright people, let's load up and move out." Logan said, as he went over and slid the van's huge side-passenger door open towards its rear.

"Sir…YEESSS, SIR!" Morph mockingly shouted out, as he gave Logan a full salute in the temporary guise of Private John Winger, while the others piled on into the van in front of him.

"Chuck, you are gonna owe me big time for this!" Logan muttered in a low voice to himself, as he slammed the sliding door closed behind Morph once he was inside, then walked around the front of the van to its driver's side.

Within a few minutes, the now better-running van had left the Institute and was making its way down the main roadway into downtown Bayville. And, Logan was receiving a crash-course in what it was like to travel, even this very short distance, cooped up in a moving vehicle with four slightly rambunctious teenagers.

_"…only one hit song. One freakin' song, and they're already callin' the guy the next John Lennon. Seriously, I heard someone on TV actually say that."_

_"But they're speaking out for our generation."_

"_Is he really that good of a singer?"_

_"Not so much good vocally. But, they are different."_

_"Which says a lot right there."_

"_Yeah, but what?"_

"Say, can't the four of you find something else to argue about for awhile?" Logan now interjected himself into the conversation and asked.

"Okay. Arrrree weee thheerrrre yyyeeettt?" Morph replied, intentionally doing so in the most nasally, whiny voice that he could mimic.

"Don't start with me!" Logan slightly growled at Morph's provoking statement, "And yes, we're almost there. Thank, God."

A few more minutes passed in silence, with everyone in the back looking out through the windows on both sides of the van, gazing at the passerby's while Logan turned down one street after another, before finally reaching the new Bayville Mall.

"All of you listen up. We all meet back up here in a couple of hours, got it?" Logan said to these four students that he had escorted down to this destination, as he finished up the cigarette that he had lit and quickly smoked during the walk across the parking lot from the van towards the mall entrance, "I'm gonna go in here and find me somewhere I can grab myself a beer or two."

"I think you're gonna have a slight problem there." John said, putting his hands in the pockets of his olive and navy-trimmed jacket, as he and the others walked along with Logan towards the mall's entrance.

"Why's that?" Logan asked, as he paused, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and agilely put it out on the sole of his boot, before continuing on with them.

"Heellloo, McFly. They don't sell alcohol in the Food Court." Morph, who was now in his guise of Kevin Sidney, said to Logan.

Morph considered Kevin to be his own personal alter-ego, which he used only when they were out in public and he needed to blend better into a crowd. By morphing into Kevin, he was rid of the pasty physical features that were the trademark of his mutant powers. It allowed Morph to recreate himself into what he thought that he would have probably looked like by now, had he never developed these shape-shifting abilities in the first place. Although, he was generally more comfortable in being just plain old Morph the rest of the time.

"Shit!" Logan reflexively cursed, his exclamation just loud enough to be heard by the gang, along with a few other shoppers close by who were exiting the mall. All the while, Logan was thinking to himself that now he really was in for a long afternoon.

"Um, you're not going to start getting the shakes on us or anything, are you?" Mariko smirked and sarcastically asked Logan, surprising both him and her other teammates' with her biting remark. To the point that it took them all a few moments to respond.

Which, they all finally did with brief and raucous laughter. All, except for Logan, that is.

It had been apparent just how much of an influence that Morph was having on Mariko's overall personality, as evidenced by this display now. Gone was the shy and introverted girl that had first arrived at the mansion those many months ago, replaced by a more wisecracking and fun-loving individual. Regardless though, Logan wasn't the type of person to settle for such lampooning at his expense, and he and his short temper would usually react to it either physically, or at least verbally.

But, given the fact that Mariko was just now starting to get back on her feet from a modest rib-fracture, which she had received while coming to Logan's aid against an old acquaintance of his a few weeks back. And, especially since he had so callously questioned her placement on the team prior to her timely rescue effort, Logan didn't even hurl one of his expectantly surly retorts back at her.

Instead, Logan just shook his head and let out another grunting sigh at her comment, pulled his hat down a little in front and continued on into the mall, fluidly disappearing into the throng of holiday shoppers up ahead of them.

**………………………………………………………**

After working their way through the crowd of fellow shoppers, the gang then further split-up to head off to their own differing destinations in the mall for this afternoon. Ororo and Mariko soon found themselves upstairs in The Lacuna, a trendy clothing store that specialized in, and only carried, the latest in current fashions.

"So, what do you think?" Mariko asked, as she came out of one of the store's dressing rooms, modeling a fluorescent orange and black sheer-sleeved blouse, with a form-hugging orange and black checkered miniskirt to go along with it. Which she was considering buying, and now solicited Ororo's opinion for help in making her mind up, "Pretty all that, huh?"

"Quite." Ororo replied, as she stood close by in this rear-section of the store and was herself debating on two brightly-colored outfit ensembles, which she was currently holding in each hand, "And I'm certain that Morph will, for perhaps the first time in his life, be rendered speechless upon seeing you in it. Which, would be a feat in and of itself."

"C'mon, this is Morph we're talking about. I doubt he's going to get all that worked up over me wearing a new outfit." Mariko said, as she turned around and went back into the change room, closing its lightweight louver-style door behind her.

"You must be joking." Ororo said in response, unable to believe that Mariko wasn't seeing what the rest of them obviously were.

"Joking? About what?" Mariko asked Ororo from inside of her change room stall.

"That, judging from the way that he acts when he is around you, Morph is apparently already worked up over you." Ororo grinningly clarified, revealing her own personal observations of the two.

"No way!" Mariko quickly refuted, but then paused and allowed this possibility to sink in a bit. Mariko now more carefully considered Ororo's assertion and then stood up on her tiptoes, so that she could look over the top-edge of the fitting room door right at Ororo, "Wait, do you really think…he likes me? Like that?"

This time Ororo merely shot a silent, yet affirming, nod of yes in Mariko's direction, as she went and took both of her outfits into another dressing room that was right next to the one that Mariko was currently occupying. Meanwhile, Mariko took a break between trying on outfits and a seat in her dressing room, her mind now trying to wrap itself around this idea of Morph having developed some level of romantic feelings for her, and that she had been so painfully oblivious to it.

And, more importantly, with how she was going to deal with it all?

**……………………………………………………**

Meanwhile, downstairs in the mall's jam-packed video arcade…

"**Boo-yah**!" Kevin (aka Morph) victoriously exclaimed, as he and John both stood side-by-side in front of Fatal Showdown and played this fighting video-game, "Better get ready to crown THE king!"

"Yeah, the king of luck." John replied in a more subdued tone, after having been beaten in the first round of their latest match of the game.

"What's luck got to do with it? This is pure skill, Johnny baaayy-bee." Kevin said, as the self-proclaimed arcade master prepared for their next fight-round to begin.

Which, was also over in less than a minute.

"K.O., again!" Kevin gloated, as his fighting character named 'Flux' landed a final finishing blow against John's 'Sickle' opponent.

For a competitive spirit like John, defeat was a concept that didn't sit too well with him. Even, if it was only in a video game. John just silently stood there and looked at the arcade screen for a moment, as the match concluded with the victorious character's post-fight celebration. Which was nothing when compared to Kevin's own current revelry.

"Can't touch this! Oh-oh oh, oh oh-oh-oh…" Kevin happily proclaimed from within the arcade, with accompanying dance moves to go along with his intonations.

"I can't believe you just did that." John said, as he took a couple of steps back and shook his head at Morph's antics.

"And I can't believe you just lost…" Kevin said, as he held his hand out to his side, mockingly counting up for John's benefit one finger at a time, "…for the fourth time now."

"Well, I'm glad that Hooked on Math worked for you, but can we get back to the game." John replied, as he went over and put another quarter in the arcade machine, eager for a rematch with his friend.

"Sure. This time around, though, you might do a little better if you go ahead and use 'Superchief'?" Kevin said, as he stopped his celebration and came back over next to John, who was now using his controller to scroll through the list of characters on the screen in front of them.

"Why, because he's a Native American too?" John now turned and half-jokingly asked Kevin, although with a very noticeable amount of indignation in his voice as he did.

"Uh, not. It's because you're gettin' your ass handed to you, and Superchief's ultra-combos might at least make you look respectable against me." Kevin smirkingly replied to the conclusion that John had automatically jumped to, before turning back to the screen to select his own character, "Even though it still won't keep me from slapping you around some more with 'New Kong', big man."

"Ohhh, just bring it on, pasty-boy!" John now rousingly announced, as a new match started on-screen that instantly and deeply drew both him and Kevin into it.

**…………………………………………………**

A couple of hours later, following the remainder of the afternoon having been spent going from store to store to store in the mall, Mariko and Ororo had incidentally enough wound up in its capacious Food Court. It was here that they had decided to take a breather from their clothing perusal, grabbing a quick bite to eat and having taken a seat amongst the multitude of tables located there.

Which is where they were soon joined by some unexpected, but welcome, company.

Two local boys, who were also about Mariko and Ororo's age, had spotted these beautiful young ladies from the other side of the Food Court and immediately came over to strike up a conversation with the unfamiliar girls'. Whom, they had not seen around Bayville High, and were quite certain that they would not have forgotten such a memorable sight as either of them.

As their small talk continued, they covered music, fashion, movies, and everything else in-between that was of a contemporary nature. During this time, Ororo and Mariko also wound up giving these other two curious teens a fanciful, yet convenient, cover story for why it was that they lived at the Xavier Institute boarding-school. But, before too long they were all joined by a fifth individual, who managed to slip up on them completely unnoticed.

"Gettin' about time to go." Logan now gruffly said, as he surprised the four teens sitting at the table, after spotting them from afar off in the mall's interior distance, while on his way down to their earlier agreed-upon meeting place.

And, Logan was particularly disappointed in the fact that he had been able to get so close to Ororo and Mariko without them detecting him. Especially, since they had run a number of training drills focusing on the importance of keeping constant tabs on their surrounding environment at all times.

"Oh, hi Logan. This is Mark and Adam." Mariko said, as she and the rest of the group looked up and over at him from their table.

"We were talking and they were just telling us about…" Ororo told Logan next, when she suddenly realized that this latest part of their conversation had just been interrupted by Logan's arrival.

"The Cafè A-Go-Go, sir." Adam said, as he stood up to introduce himself to Logan by extending a hand out to the older man, who was obviously some kind of chaperone from the girls' boarding school. But, Adam didn't receive a reciprocating gesture from Logan, and decided to sit back down and proceed with what he was going to say, "It's this place close to our high school, where all of the students can go and hang out. We were telling Mariko and Ororo about our petition to keep it from being demolished."

"Yeah, they want to tear it down so they can replace it with Gut Bomb, some new mega restaurant-chain. But, we're trying to get the city council here to save it by seeing that it's a part of our town's history." Mark now added, as he remained seated at the table.

"Hmmph. I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Logan curtly said to both boys, giving their argument little consideration before turning his attention back over to Mariko and Ororo, "You two ready?"

And with that obvious hint delivered, Adam and Mark both promptly and politely excused themselves from the table. But, not before inviting the girls' and their friends to come and hang with them again some time.

"Didn't mean to scare off your new boyfriends'." Logan amusingly remarked, as he, Mariko, and Ororo had by now gone down a nearby escalator to the first-floor, and were on their way towards the mall entrance so that they could meet up with the other members of their little shopping party, Morph and John.

"I don't think that you have to concern yourself too much about that." Ororo replied to Logan, while flashing a surreptitious smirk in Mariko's direction. Which, caught Mariko a bit off-guard at first, but she pressed on to keep up with them and their brisk pace.

When they passed by the mall's huge decorative water fountain, Mariko was the next to make her own remark to Logan.

"With the way you were acting earlier, I thought that we might end up having to fish you out of there, or something." Mariko jokingly ribbed Logan, pointing over to the fountain and referring to his earlier statement about needing a drink, as they journeyed onward to the mall's main exit.

"Night's still young, shortcake. At least for me, anyways." Logan laughingly replied while looking back over at Mariko, this time with an uncustomary smile coming across his face.

Which, was most likely due to Logan thinking about the fact that this little outing was almost concluded. And, at the prospect of him actually getting the chance to quench his urge, once he had dropped Mariko, Ororo, Morph, and John off back at the Institute and could himself head off to the Auger Inn, or some other nearby bar.

Which, were the only local establishments that Logan could ever really see himself being motivated enough to go and sign any kind of petition on their behalf…


	5. So Far Away Part I

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**……………………………………………………………..**

Chapter 5- So Far Away (Part I)

_Bayville__, New York_

The Xavier Institute-

Inside of the Danger Room, the underground training facility located a few dozen feet directly beneath the Institute, its residents' have spent countless hours training in these months since first coming to live here. The purpose of all of this hard work has been to help them learn to master their mutant powers and hone these exceptional abilities granted them as a result of their unique genetic structures, which set them far apart from the average human being.

Even though, the vast majority of the general populace has absolutely no idea that mutants even exist, and certainly not on the ever-growing scale that they now apparently do. This has been in large part due to those at the highest echelons of power around the world carefully ensuring that this fact has remained a highly classified secret, so as not to generate the perceived public panic that is thought would occur were this information to become common knowledge.

These X-Men, as Professor Xavier has affectionately dubbed this recently-formed team of his, are being groomed as the new standard bearers of this apparent evolutionary jump in mankind, preparing them to stand in defense of a world that is not yet ready to fully welcome or accept them, or their homo-superior brethren. Some of whom, unlike the X-Men, believe that this genetic deviation that they have been born with entitles them the right to lord the amazing power that they do possess over the rest of humanity.

And, as the X-Men are to soon find out first-hand in the very near future, many of whom already have plans afoot with the intentions of making such oppressive notions an actuality.

"Damn, Johnny! You keep this up, and you're gonna wind up flat as a pog!" Morph warned, as he was currently looking down upon his teammate John Proudstar in the aforementioned Danger Room, watching him train down in the monolithic dome-like structure from its control booth high above.

"I'm fine. Just give me some more." Thunderbird coolly replied and instructed Morph, as he stood in the center of a full-body strength press machine, his muscular arms fully extended overhead and the palms of his hands planted flatly against a huge steel-plate above him.

Reluctantly, Morph did as John requested and increased the device's weighted-resistance, which he had steadily been doing over the course of this strength endurance drill. Punching a command into the control booth's computer console, Morph proceeded to move the resistance-level from 8 tons up to 9 tons, and then halting this latest increase at an astonishing 10 tons.

The hydraulic press responded immediately to Morph's keyed commands, as the force being exerted now drove down even harder on John's massive 6'6" frame, and he noticeably struggled to maintain his stance in this seeming death-trap. But, John quickly regained his footing and posture, enough so that he was soon able to turn his attention back up to Morph.

"Gimme some more." Thunderbird once again repeated, grunting out this latest request to his teammate from underneath the equipment's hydraulic plate.

To which Morph couldn't believe his ears, as he watched his teammate labor from various camera angles on the monitors set up all around the control booth. Morph had noticed in the time that he had gotten to know John, that it seemed like there was some competitive urge that constantly drove his teammate from within, and seeing him down there today only served as further confirmation of those observations.

"Now I know you've lost it!" Morph emphatically replied, in an attempt to talk some sense into Thunderbird, "What're you trying to prove down there anyways, big man?"

But, this time John didn't reply, save for a serious and concentrated expression on his face, which he shot over into one of the cameras that he knew Morph was watching him through. Going against what he thought was his own better judgment, Morph acquiesced to John's request and cranked the training equipment up to an even higher, and more frightening level.

And frighten him it did indeed, as the strength press now rocketed past 15 tons and suddenly crashed down a couple of feet. In that instant, Morph felt a queasy sensation in his stomach, and he just knew that John had just been seriously injured. Slowly, Morph turned his head upwards to look at one of the monitors, hesitant of the horrific sight beneath the strength press that he was sure awaited him.

And, that's when he saw it.

In the center of the hydraulic strength press was Thunderbird, smiling and apparently unharmed. John was now crouched down in a squat-position, with the full weight of this strength press resting across his arms and shoulders. Then, with a vocal exhalation that could only be described as something of a warcry, John sprang back up to a fully erect posture and drove the strength press back up with him.

"**Holy Crap**!" Morph exclaimed, as that was the only thought that immediately came to mind following what he had just witnessed.

"Now THAT'S what I call a workout!" Thunderbird exclaimed even louder, as he stood with his massively bulging arms fully extended overhead, and finished this complete body press.

"Alright, I'm shutting it down now." Morph told John, right before he proceeded to terminate the strength test exercise from the Danger Room's control booth console.

Morph then went to exit the Danger Room's control booth through an auxiliary trapdoor built into its floor, which so far had only been used by their more airborne teammates' Storm and Sunfire. Using his own mutant powers to reform his arms into mini-glider wings, Morph smoothly sailed from high above down to the Danger Room's steel-tiled floor and landed right beside John.

"You didn't have to do that! I told you I know what I'm doing." John said to Morph just as he arrived to join him down there, upset that the training sequence had been abruptly terminated. The both of them now stood there together, decked out in their similarly-styled black and khaki team uniforms.

"It wasn't because of that." Morph replied, as his arms reshaped back to normal from the glider wings and he looked over at John, "I stopped it because you reached the machine's max, and I didn't want to risk another burnout. She can'na take anymore, Captain!"

"Well, in that case, I guess it's good you stopped things when you did, 'Scotty'. Else, the Professor'd probably be ready to beam me outta here for wrecking the Danger Room again, right after the two of you finally got it back working." John replied to Morph's bold impersonation, as the strength press apparatus he was standing beneath rapidly faded and then disappeared completely from sight. Revealing it to have been nothing more than an elaborate hologram, with a few smaller and well-placed steel rods and panels within to give it a more realistic effect.

"Nice job, by the way." John now added, as the last of these complex mechanical and holographic components vanished from sight within the Danger Room, "I know you said you were some kind of computer whiz, but I didn't think you had all this in you."

"I can't really take that much credit. I mean, I did help with integrating this new holo-deck system into the Danger Room's software programming, but I have absolutely no idea where the Professor managed to get his hands on all this space-age tech." Morph replied, as he pulled out a remote control and began punching in button commands on it, "And as you can see, we've still got some fine-tuning to do with it."

In that moment, the interior of the Danger Room began to take on a whole new appearance, simulating the outdoor environment that surrounded the Institute complete with tree leaves rustling in an artificial breeze and birds chirping all around them. It was a replication that looked more like a 3-D video projection extending itself all around them, lacking the clarity and substance of a truly realistic representation of a fully virtual environment, but was still leaps and bounds beyond anything Morph and John had ever seen before. This new holographic matrix also had another very noticeable flaw, with the sky and clouds above them appearing to be colored in a weird red and magenta scheme, for some unknown reason.

Just then, Morph and John's conversation was interrupted by a third voice. One, which had the ability to speak directly into their minds.

"_X-Men! X-Men! Report to my study at once…_"

And with this short and urgent order delivered to them from Professor Xavier, Morph used the remote in his hand to completely shut down the Danger Room, returning it to it's dimmed metallic-state as he and John now briskly walked over towards the exit.

"You know, speaking of impressive, that was pretty tight what you pulled off back there." Morph said, as he and John walked along one another side-by-side, "Reminds me a whole lot of that big Russian guy."

"What, big Russian guy?" John now stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow to ask.

"The one from those Rocky movies. Duh!" Morph also stopped to quickly retort, as the top of his usually bald-head briefly took on a spiked-blonde hairdo, and he shook his head while also rolling his eyes in disappointment that John hadn't caught on to his cinematic reference.

Morph's hair, or lack thereof, then quickly reverted back to normal and he continued on with John following a mere few steps behind him. The Danger Room's huge steel blast-doors slid open up before them and they both headed for the elevator down at the end of the corridor, which would swiftly shuttle them back up to the Institute's ground level.

**……………………………………………………………..**

Inside Professor Xavier's study, the rest of the team had already gathered there by the time that John and Morph arrived. And for Morph, it meant that he had an audience for another one of his attention-grabbing entrances.

"**Hey Ladies**!" Morph whimsically called out to announce his presence to all within earshot, as the door to the study flung open and he came in now wearing a flamboyant yellow, bell-bottomed suit with a matching superfly hat, and a white leopard-printed shirt underneath that had a huge butterfly-collar fully opened, "Oh, and you guys too."

But, as John came in behind him to round out this assemblage, Morph wasn't met with the warm and jovial reception that he had been expecting from the others already in there. While the more serious-natured glances that Professor Xavier, Logan, and even Ororo, all shot over in his direction weren't totally unexpected, Morph was still a bit surprised that he wasn't able to draw any kind of discernible reaction from Mariko.

Who, happened to be standing with the others around the Professor's desk, and who usually cracked up hysterically at his antics. Morph had been noticing that things as of late had been different between him and Mariko, that she seemed more and more distant over the last few weeks and he wasn't quite sure as to the reason why? Which, was something that he had become increasingly concerned over as well.

"Uh, okay." Morph now said in a more withdrawn tone, as he continued on into the study with John, his own demeanor far less animated as he morphed back into his prior appearance wearing his black and khaki team uniform.

"So Chuck, what's this big important announcement that you called us in here for?" Logan turned back, and somewhat impatiently asked the Professor from across his desk.

Logan's current temperament helped make it all the more obvious that he had been otherwise occupied when the Professor had contacted all of them. The first clue to this being that both he and Mariko were each standing there still attired in their white martial-arts gis, since they had rushed to the study straight from their training session upon receiving the Professor's rather succinct telepathic message.

Following the fairly serious injury that she had received a few months ago while aiding him in his fight against fellow Canadian and former comrade Weapon Alpha, Logan had jokingly remarked to Mariko shortly afterwards that,

_"Next time you decide to come runnin' to my defense, I'm gonna make sure that you're more than up to the task."_

Logan then went and took it upon himself to begin instructing Morph, John, Ororo, and most especially Mariko, each on the finer points of successful hand-to-hand combat, doing so in one-on-one sparring sessions.

Meanwhile, Professor Xavier pulled out one of the drawers from his desk and reached in to it, keying in a special combination on a small automated-keypad located within. Immediately, the large wooden-panels of the wall opened up behind him, displaying a hidden computer console located inside that was large enough to take up the entire length of the wall.

For most of those now gathered around the Professor's large oak desk, it was their first time at getting an up close and personal look at his Cerebro machine, which they had mostly only heard so much about.

"Roughly one hour ago, international and regional monitoring agencies recorded a tremendous seismological event that occurred along the Asian Pacific Rim's underlying fault-lines." Professor Xavier gravely began, as he turned around to face the computer console behind him.

Using a remote control in his hand to turn on the oversized monitor-screen that had been incorporated into his Cerebro device, a videotaped U.S. news-broadcast started to playback to help further illustrate what the Professor was talking about.

_"…latest in several recent tremors that have epi-centered near Japan's mainland. As these seismic-shocks appear to have steadily increased in their intensity over the last few weeks, experts are scrambling to determine the sudden cause of such concentrated and localized activity. _

_Concern is also growing as to whether this is a grim precursor to an event of unimaginable destructive potential still to come, rivaling or even managing to surpass the Luzon and World Series earthquakes' of recent memory? If this were to happen, it would be a seismic-magnitude not seen on a global scale since the 1960's, when a South American earthquake and its resultant tsunamis were estimated to have killed and injured thousands in its aftermath…" _

As this portion of the broadcast came to an end, the monitor then went dark with everyone's attention now turning back towards the Professor with moods to match.

"This situation appears to have you greatly concerned as well?" Ororo surmised and was the first to say so out loud, as the X-Men's squad leader stood close by dressed in a red and blue, African-print long-sleeved blouse and skirt set, accessorized with a matching scarf and garnet beaded-necklace and earrings.

"Indeed." Professor Xavier concisely confirmed, "I have good reason to believe that this phenomenon is not natural in its origin."

"What are you saying?" John, now standing next to Ororo with arms folded over in front of him, curiously asked.

"At almost precisely the same moment as this most recent earthquake, Cerebro detected an extremely powerful mutant-energy signature emanating due south of Japan's main coastline. Someone, either unintentionally or perhaps deliberately, has been the source of these abnormal disturbances." Professor Xavier expounded, "At any rate, we must reach this individual before a catastrophe of unspeakable proportions occurs."

"So, that means before something bad happens, right?" Morph facetiously remarked in his humored attempt to decipher the Professor's last intricately-worded statement, wanting at the same time to try and lighten the heavy mood that had fallen over the room, and do so in his own trademarked style.

But, as is occasionally the case, words can sometimes be interpreted differently from the way that they may have been originally intended.

"**Of course, he means before something bad happens**! Like, lots and lots of people dying, Morph!" Mariko, who had been silent up until this point, chastisingly replied and once again managed to catch Morph completely off-guard.

And while she hadn't really raised her voice all that much, Mariko's tone still relayed a strong tinge of enmity with it, as she appeared to have been very visibly shaken by the news that they had just received regarding her native homeland.

"I want all of you to go pack your things." Professor Xavier now instructed all of his students, "There will be a plane ready and waiting for us to depart within the hour."

With that said, everyone in the study with the exception of Logan prepared to disperse, so that they could hurriedly go and make all of their necessary preparations for this impromptu trip. And none left faster than Mariko, who rushed past Ororo, Morph and John and headed towards the study's exit, now with an expression on her face that seemed as if she were about to start crying. Immediately, Ororo also hurried out behind Mariko to try to catch up to her, and just in that same moment Morph realized why she had reacted in the manner that she had to his comment.

If it were his hometown of Pittsburgh, instead of Tokyo, that was in imminent danger of being wiped-off of the map entirely, Morph knew that he would probably react in much the same way as Mariko just had. As he contemplated this sudden awareness, while being the last to leave the Professor's study, Morph was kicking himself and couldn't believe that he had been such a bonehead to make light of something so obviously personal for her.

It also got him to wondering if maybe he had unknowingly made some other stupid or insensitive-remark around Mariko recently, and whether that had become a contributing factor in her acting so noticeably aloof whenever she was around him now?

**……………………………………………………………..**

Roughly an hour and some-odd minutes later, a teal-colored Rolls Royce arrived at Bayville's modestly-sized private airfield and drove undeterred through the large entrance gates towards its flight-line. Pulling up alongside a mid-size private airplane, which Professor Xavier evidently kept on standby and prepared to fly at a moment's notice, the X-Men soon exited the luxury automobile so that they could board this awaiting jet.

While Logan and an airport attendant escorted Professor Xavier over to the special-access lift for his wheelchair, the rest of the team went back to go get their things from the car's already opened-trunk. Mariko and Morph each quickly retrieved their bags and made their way over to board the plane, leaving John and Ororo behind to bring up the rear.

"Here, let me get those for you." John politely offered, reaching over with a helping hand just as Ororo was bending down to pick up one of her upright traveling-bags from the trunk.

"That is quite alright. I believe that I can handle them." Ororo cordially smiled and replied, as she looked over and up at John, while grabbing the olive-colored wheeled suitcase.

"Yeah, I know." John nodded, with a reciprocating grin.

Without waiting for any further debate on the subject, John reached over with his own oversized arm and chivalrously plucked the bag right out of Ororo's grasp. And with just as much ease, he also managed to pick up the rest of the remaining belongings from the trunk in one single-handed swoop. Turning with these numerous suitcases and other carry-ons' all slung over his right-shoulder, John then proceeded to audaciously lead the way over to the plane.

After seeing this somewhat extraordinary feat, at least it would be for most other individuals anyways, Ororo decided to resign her mild protests by acquiescing to John's courteous sentiment and she now walked over to the plane alongside him. Ororo's hands were now firmly in the pockets of her cream-colored overcoat, since thanks to her teammate's good-natured insistence and this superfluous display of strength, it had become evident to her that she didn't have much else to use them for at the moment.

As soon as everyone was onboard and buckled in, their privately-chartered flight didn't waste any time in taxying down the runway and getting airborne for the lengthy trip ahead. And upon reaching its optimal flight-level thousands of feet above the earth below, the pilot relayed through the in-flight PA system that it was now safe for his passengers to move about within the cabin.

Which Morph didn't need to be told twice, as it was difficult enough for him to remain subdued and in one place for any significant amount of time, and instantly got back up so that he could further inspect their interior surroundings. While Logan and John had managed to mysteriously break out a deck of cards from somewhere and were already heavily involved in a hand of 'something' in the plane's rear, Professor Xavier and Ororo were in their seats a few rows up ahead, each of them silently occupying their time by reading a book.

Although Ororo, for some reason, seemed to be far less interested in the novel that was sitting in her lap, as she was mostly staring off into space with an unusually pensive expression on her face.

Meanwhile Mariko, who was also seated on the same row as Ororo but was over on the opposite side of the aisle, had her cassette walkman out and headphones on. She was passing the time by merely looking out of the plane's window, observing the clear-blue sky outside and the rapidly changing scenery down below.

"So, what'cha listening to?" Morph curiously asked, as he came over and sat down, taking a seat right next to Mariko.

"Oh, it's Madonna. It's a tape I made with all of my favorite songs of hers on it." Mariko replied, promptly snapping herself back from out of her slightly meditative-state, as she repositioned the headphones around her ears. Which, let Morph briefly hear Live to Tell playing through them, before Mariko hit the stop-button on her walkman.

"I didn't realize you were such a big fan?" Morph remarked as they continued their conversation, happy to see that she wasn't still upset about what had happened earlier back at the Institute, and he was now a bit intrigued at learning this new fact about Mariko.

"I'm, like, probably one of her biggest fans! I even saw her perform live the last couple of times she came through Tokyo on her world tour. Although, I had to sneak out just so I could go." Mariko excitedly revealed to Morph, which raised yet another question with him.

"Hmmph, why'd you have to sneak out? I don't really see you as they type to go and do something to get yourself grounded the night before the big concert." Morph playfully commented, referring to Mariko's generally complaisant demeanor.

Which, since she had come to the Institute, occasionally even had an influencing effect on Morph. Enough so, that she managed to dissuade him from pulling some of his more outlandish practical jokes, which would have most likely landed Morph in serious hot-water with the Professor.

"My parents…they're really strict, I mean REALLY strict. Especially, when it comes to school and grades and stuff. They would've SO not understood me wanting to go see Madonna, and would've totally disapproved. Just, like they disapprove of most of the things that I like." Mariko further told Morph, "Unless there's classical music being performed, they think that concerts are nothing but a waste of valuable time. Which, as they told me, 'a proper young lady could better use studying', or something."

Mariko then paused and took in a sighing breath before continuing.

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I love my parents, I really do, and it was one of the first times that I ever really disobeyed their wishes. But, I don't regret going, not for a second!"

With such an adamant statement made, Morph unexpectedly proceeded to shape-shift his physical attributes before Mariko's very eyes. He was now far more feminine in his appearance and sported platinum blonde, shoulder-length hair while wearing a pointy black corset-bustier, all in obvious homage to Mariko's number-one singer and entertainer.

"Well, since Johnny and Logan are busy back there playing five-card stud, and I personally suck at cards, how's about a round or two of truth or dare?" Morph humorously suggested to Mariko, his voice also becoming more 'Material Girl-esque' as he sank back into his seat and crossed one leg over the other, "Although, I think I better warn you that I have been known to strike a pose with the best of them."

But, it was Mariko who managed to surprise Morph, with her response and reaction to his current antics.

"That's...great Morph. But, um, maybe some other time." Mariko smiled and said, although her cheerful expression now seemed a bit more forced, and her overall demeanor was significantly less upbeat than it had been just a few seconds ago.

As she stood up from her seat and slipped by in front of Morph, Mariko then went over and curled up in another seat on the plane a couple of rows behind him. Mariko placed her headphones back on and turned her walkman all the way back up, as she positioned herself perfectly for a comfortable slumber.

And, after hearing this rare elaboration on the kind of relationship that she had with her parents, Morph began to get an inkling as to why Mariko had been so moody over the last few weeks, and why she had reacted in the way that she had this morning. Even though they may not have been on the best of terms when she ran away from home, which Mariko had only briefly mentioned to Morph once when they were alone, they were still her family and she obviously still cared about and missed them.

With Mariko not having spoken to them in months now, and had also just spent her first Christmas and New Year's away from both her family and her friends back home, Morph came to the conclusion that she must've been feeling home-sick. It seemed to have been a timely coincidence, even under these foreboding circumstances, that they were making this trip to Japan. Morph knew that it was up to him to find a way to convince Mariko to go see her Mom and Dad again while they were there, to at least try and patch up whatever differences that must've sprung up when they found out about her being a mutant.

But, while he was thinking all of this through, Morph happened to glance over at Ororo and noticed something very peculiar. On her face she now wore an expression of pure panic, which for Morph, had been a previously unseen sight in the short time that he had known his teammate and team-leader.

"Zoinks! Like, what's the matter?" Morph turned and humorously asked Ororo from across the aisle, doing so in his most relaxed and recognizably laid-back tone.

"This is only the second time that I have flown, and much like my first experience, I fear that it is not agreeing with me very well." Ororo replied, closing her eyes as she struggled to take in deep breaths, and almost seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Um, I don't see why you're buggin' out? You're always flying around back home." Morph pointed out and tried to remind her.

"Flying around, outside and in the open, is one thing. But, having to do so in this cramped and suffocating contraption is quite another!" Ororo explained, her voice wavering to the point that it seemed as though she were about to lose it emotionally, "And right now, a part of me would like nothing more than to rejoin the unrestrained atmosphere out there."

Upon hearing that, Morph knew that things were getting serious with his teammate. And, realizing just how bad of an idea it would be for Ororo to use her powers in an attempt to get a breath of fresh air, by opening the cabin's pressure-sealed exterior door at this altitude, he also knew that someone had better do something quick.

"Say Ororo, have you ever played charades?" Morph now asked, in hopes of getting a positive response from her.

"No, I cannot say that I have." Ororo replied, opening her eyes again and looking over at Morph, her facial expression still relaying the intense anxiety that she was feeling.

"Well, it's easy. All you have to do is guess the person, place, or thing I'm imitating." Morph started to explain to Ororo.

Wanting to keep her focused on the game and not lose interest, Morph decided to fudge a little on the rules with his first clue by using his mutant powers to assist him.

"Okay, who am I?" Morph asked, as he shape-shifted his physical form into that of a popular celebrity, with a cocky smile to boot.

Ororo looked at him for a second, then immediately recognized whom Morph was imitating and offered an answer.

"Tom Cruise!" Ororo enthusiastically guessed.

"Good! Okay, here's another one." Morph said, as his physical features once again morphed to imitate yet another famous figure, this time with his tongue hanging out.

"Michael Jordan." Ororo once again told Morph, confidently doing so within just a matter of a few seconds.

"Right again! Alright, now that you've gotten the hang of it, next one's going to be harder. You'll have to guess who I'm imitating, without the extra visual aid." Morph said to Ororo, seeing that he had been able to fully draw in her interest. He now began to give his hints to her in a more traditional manner, reminiscent of how charades were usually played, with silent body gestures and movements.

As they continued on with their game Professor Xavier, who had been able to hear Morph and Ororo's conversation from their seats a few rows behind him, and who had already been closely monitoring Ororo's deteriorating emotional state before Morph intervened, now turned his full attention back to the books and research journals that he had been reading through.

Even without his empathic abilities, Professor Xavier could sense that Morph's quick-thinking had its desired effect, by getting Ororo's mind off of the anxiety-attack that she had been experiencing from being in a closed and confined space for such an extended period of time. Which he was thankful for, as Professor Xavier was just about to use his own mutant powers to telepathically calm Ororo before Morph stepped in, just as he had done for her during their first flight from her home in Africa to Bayville. And, it was something that Professor Xavier was not eager to repeat again if at all necessary, as he wanted Ororo to learn on her own to confront, and eventually conquer, this innate fear she harbored within that stemmed from the traumatizing events of her childhood.

This situation also further served to exemplify one of the main reasons that had helped the Professor in his decision to recruit Morph in the first place. That, beneath this jesting veneer that was generally displayed, Professor Xavier sensed in this young man a strong and very genuine level of compassion and concern for those around him.

For the next few hours, Morph and Ororo managed to keep themselves occupied with round after hysterical round of charades. And at one point, when Ororo shouted out _"Logan!"_ as her guess to the individual that Morph was imitating at that moment, it caused the man himself to look up at the pair from his seat at the rear of the plane, only to see Morph doing a spot-on impression of him. Morph immediately stopped his mimicry and smiled at Logan upon getting caught, waving at him from the front of the cabin with one hand, while at the same time hastily retracting the faux metal-claws that were presently extended on the other.

Logan simply responded with a short and barely audible grunt, before going back to deal another hand from the deck of cards that were sitting on a small, makeshift table positioned between him and John. All the while, John's attention remained unevenly divided between the game that he and Logan were engaged in, with more of his focus becoming slowly fixated on what was going on up front.

And, on what was causing Ororo to laugh so uncharacteristically loud? Which Logan quickly took notice of, as he could see that John's full concentration was elsewhere, and on someone else more specifically, as he repeatedly beat his younger teammate in hand after non-wagered hand.

Before too long, everyone on the plane felt the sensation of the craft starting to descend, which even managed to reawaken Mariko from her short nap. The pilot then informed them over the intercom system that there would be short pause in their flight, a necessary landing so that they could refuel the jet. Once they had touched down at Kona International Airport on the main island of Hawaii, there was a sense of elation from those onboard at the chance to get out of the plane and move around for awhile.

But, none more so than from Ororo, who upon stepping foot back on solid ground after disembarking from the plane first, showed her appreciation in a way that only she could. To have arrived in a place that so closely resembled the tropical environment where she had spent a good portion of her formative years, Ororo responded by interrupting the showers that occurred on a near daily basis here to allow for a small opening of sunlight to break through, basking the entire airport and outlying foliage in its rays.

This caused Mariko to remark to herself on the coincidence of witnessing her teammate's weather manipulation, which only added to the already breathtaking beauty of their surroundings, while La Isla Bonita now played through her walkman as she got off of the plane next. But, Logan's reaction was possibly the most subdued of the group's, as he responded only by putting his brown Stetson cowboy-hat back on to shade his face from the sunlight. A hat, which had been given as a gift to Logan over the holidays from Mariko, John, Morph, and Ororo, but had originally been Mariko's idea to give to him as a replacement for his worn and faded black one.

After a short stay that included a quick trip to the airport's gift shop, as well as a few brief conversations with other travelers and a few of the locals in the terminal area, the gang was back onboard their corporate jet and preparing for yet another take-off. Once airborne, they wouldn't be stopping again until they had reached their final destination. Next stop,

**_The Land of the Rising Sun_**…


	6. So Far Away Part II

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**……………………………………………………………**

Chapter 6- So Far Away (Part II)

From the passenger loading area of the Tokyo International Airport a heightened sense of anxiety and panic, while not being wholly verbalized, was something nonetheless being unmistakably conveyed to this recently arrived group from the United States now gathered here. In particular, it was very much projected to them from the onrush of individuals crowding into this airport's departure terminals, all hoping to board flights for destinations out of the country. In addition, the unique empathic abilities of the X-Men's accompanying mentor only further served to confirm that this situation, which had drawn them here in the first place, was rapidly growing ever dire by the moment. That with its citizens already on edge, Japan itself would soon be on the verge of completely falling apart, in both a figurative and literal sense, if these earthquakes that had rocked this island nation over the last couple of days continued.

And continue they had, with each seismic event growing more violent and coming with a greater frequency than the one before. And, with everyone wondering when the 'Big One' was finally going to hit?

"Hope Logan and Mariko get back pretty soon." John Proudstar remarked, standing encircled by a 3/4 ring of his and his teammates' luggage on the ground around him.

All the while a cold, slow drizzle visible through the exterior-window just beyond the covered canopy of the passenger loading area was now starting to come down in a slushy-sleet form in this early hour of the evening.

"Well, _Allakazam_! Looks like you just got your wish, Aladdin." Morph humorously said in response to John's statement, standing up from the medium-sized suitcase that he had been using as a makeshift seat.

Pulling up almost on cue in a maroon mini-van right outside, John, Morph, Ororo, and Professor Xavier all saw the very individuals mentioned just a few moments ago sitting in its two front seats. And while they headed out to meet them, Logan and Mariko themselves emerged from the vehicle.

''That didn't take you very long.'' Ororo said as she walked over to Mariko, who herself had only left with Logan by shuttle-bus to head over to the car-rental company no more than fifteen minutes prior.

''There wasn't much of a line there.'' Mariko replied, while they loaded their things into the van's rear and John helped the Professor into the front-passenger seat, ''Plus, I'm sure my tagging along with Logan, to help translate for him and make sure he didn't blow another gasket and actually punch someone out this time, probably helped too.''

Mariko was referring to the rather frustrating episode that Logan had experienced earlier with a metal-detector, while they were being processed through customs. Which his teammates' were almost certain was about to escalate into an international incident, until the Professor stepped in. Providing the security screeners with documentation explaining that Logan's body had been implanted with steel plates and rods due to his military service, along with a subtle telepathic nudge, wound up diffusing what had become a very tense situation.

Meanwhile, as Logan and Morph finished loading up the van, Logan couldn't help but smile and laugh to himself at the thought that Mariko felt she needed to baby-sit him. And even more so, at the idea that he needed any kind of a translator.

''That's the last one." Morph said to Logan, as he put the final piece of their luggage into the back of the van.

Closing the rear-hatch, Morph then looked over at Logan with a smile of his own and cocked the gray Fedora-hat that he now had on downward. He pulled the front brim of his hat down, which itself seemed to have just magically appeared, in a manner similar to how Logan wore the cowboy hat he currently had on. And without any further hesitation, they both walked around from behind the van to join the others already inside, so that they could make their departure. But, after having barely gotten onto the main expressway from the airport, they found themselves contending with a new hassle of a different variety.

''Well, it looks like we should've went ahead and taken the metro over to the hotel like 'somebody' suggested after-all, doesn't it?'' Mariko remarked in an uncharacteristically smug 'I-told-you-so' tone to Logan specifically, while leaning forward from her mid-row seat in between him and the Professor. All, so that she could get a better look at the familiarly congested Tokyo traffic outside, which they were now stuck in.

''If you thought I was gettin' antsy earlier from those guys friskin' me like it was goin' outta style, then you definitely don't want to see how I get when I'm packed onto a crowded subway, Shortcake.'' Logan smirkingly looked over and responded to Mariko, before turning his full attention back to navigating them through this sea of other vehicles around them.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Later, following a rather scenic-paced drive into Tokyo's Greater Metropolitan area, the X-Men had made it to their destination of the Royal Excelsior Hotel, which was located here in the heart of the city's trend-setting Shibuya District. But, after an advertisement in the window of a local arcade less than a block away caught Morph's attention, he at the moment was far less interested in their current surroundings as they now exited the vehicle and made their way into the hotel's opulent lobby.

''Man, I can't believe they've already got World Warrior III out over here!'' Morph said, referring to the new arcade game that he'd only read rumors about in gaming magazines back home, ''I'm SO goin' to get in a few dozen rounds while we're here.''

''Need I remind you that we have more pressing matters at hand, which require our immediate attention first?'' Professor Xavier turned back and semi-scoldingly said to Morph, before continuing forward to the check-in counter.

While it was obvious from his unusually snap remark, that the sheer level of anxiety-laden feedback Professor Xavier had been psychically filtering from the local citizenry in the short time since their arrival was now beginning to have an effect on his own emotional state, the argument could also be made that, of all of his X-Men, it was Morph who took himself the least seriously.

But on that same token, it would be just as much of a mistake to assume that this perennial life of the party took nothing in life seriously. Especially, when it came to his responsibilities as a member of the X-Men.

''C'mon, you'll get your chance to get blown outta the arcade by me later on.'' John sarcastically told Morph, as he came up and supportively putting his massive right-arm around his friend's neck and shoulders into a sort of lax side-headlock. Even without telepathic abilities of his own, John had still been able to sense just how much the Professor's words had hurt Morph.

Meanwhile, a hotel attendant pushed a cart past them that had all of their luggage on it, with the exception being Logan's things. Logan himself walked past the rest of the group with his duffle-bag slung over his left shoulder after he had checked in at the front desk, and then continued on towards the hotel's elevators ahead of everybody else.

A short time later after they had all checked into their rooms, where Logan had noticeably and intentionally gotten himself one at the opposite end of this floor from everybody else's, the X-Men were suiting up and then heading over to the presidential suite where the Professor was waiting.

''Presidential suite, huh? Yeah, I just bet." Morph looked around and commented, as he and John walked into the luxury suite wearing their new team uniforms, which had all recently undergone a significant redesign.

Gone were the cumbersome and bulky flight-suits that they had originally worn when first recruited by Professor Xavier, and which Mariko had been the most vocal in her criticisms towards. In their place now were uniforms that consisted of a two-piece pant and snap-button jacket combo made from a more comfortable and lighter weight material. It was an ensemble that seemed far more practical and less conspicuous for moving about in the general public, even if they still came in the same black and tan color-scheme as their predecessor.

"I mean, this place is nice and all. But if it really lived up to its Commander-In-Chief billing, we'd at least get treated to a live re-enactment of the Prez spewin' chunks in the Prime Minister's lap all over again." Morph suggested, referring to another recent event, "For our viewing pleasure, of course."

"Morph, that has got to be the absolutely grossest thing I think I've ever heard!" Mariko, who had been the second arrival in here after changing into her uniform, now told Morph. Although, the subdued smirk currently on her face did seem to contradict her asserted opinion.

"Well, young lady, sometimes when it comes to politics: NOT always pretty." Morph said, with his appearance, body gestures, and voice for a brief moment mimicking those of the sitting President of the United States himself.

Which, drew a squealed burst of laughter from Mariko, the first that Morph had from her since before leaving Bayville and took that as a positive sign.

"Whoa, you guys've got the new Nirvana video over here!" John, who had gone and taken a seat over in front of the suite's large projection-screen TV while they waited for the Professor to join them, now exclaimed in a surprised tone to his two teammates'.

"I don't know why you're acting so amazed? This is Tokyo, not Mars." Mariko sarcastically replied, after plopping down beside John, " I mean, even if we don't get MTV here all the time."

"Say, where're Ororo and Logan?" Morph now asked, noticing that two others from their number were absent.

"Logan's out on the balcony." Mariko revealed, pointing over towards doors that led out to a spacious exterior terrace, "And, Ororo's still in our room. She said she just needed a few minutes alone, to try and get her head together. It has to do with some kind of weird vibe that she keeps feeling through her powers."

But right then, the telephone rang interrupting Mariko's somewhat detailed recount. Which was followed by an even lengthier exchange in Japanese, between Mariko and this mystery caller on the other end of the line.

"Old friend?" Morph half-jokingly asked Mariko once she had hung up, now that it was just the two of them in here since John had left moments earlier to go check on Ororo.

"Sort of. Soseki's the head concierge for the hotel and was calling to check if we needed anything? He was kinda surprised when I answered, and then started going on and on about all the times I used to stay here with my parents when they had their important business meetings." Mariko finished and further revealed.

"You know, if you wanna go see your parents while we're here, I wouldn't mind tagging along to keep you company?" Morph now offered, thinking this the perfect opportunity to bring up the subject, having figured that her recent moodiness was the result of her missing her family.

"Thanks and all, but I'd just as soon avoid that nightmare altogether." Mariko responded, with her cheerful demeanor fading quickly and considerably.

"It can't be that bad." Morph optimistically nodded and commented.

"You've obviously never met my folks." Mariko said, shaking her head with a sarcastic half-chuckle, half-sigh to boot.

"C'mon, I'm sure they've gotten over your whole Madonna-be phase by now?" Morph said in an attempt to humor her.

"Trust me, they aren't the type of people who just get over anything. And, my tastes in music were the least of the things that they had a problem with." Mariko replied, now appearing to have become even more tense from this conversation, as she stood up from the sofa.

"But, maybe if you at least give them a call and talked, you might--" Morph was saying in an attempt to convince her, when he was suddenly stopped in mid-sentence.

"**Look Morph, it's just not gonna happen, alright**! So can we please just drop it, okay?" Mariko loudly shouted at Morph, before turning away from him towards the exterior balcony and storming out of the room.

"Um, sure. Whatever. Nevermind." Morph said, after having been left alone in the suite's main room.

But a few minutes later, Morph was rejoined by Ororo and John. With Ororo telling each of them that she was fine, even though both Morph and John knew her well enough by now to see that something was obviously still bothering her. And when the Professor finally did come in shortly thereafter, he immediately asked John to go get Logan and Mariko outside.

Whereas Professor Xavier would normally psi-call them to request their presence, he chose for the moment to conserve his abilities for reasons that he would soon explain.

"The Professor's ready." John stepped out onto the balcony and briefly announced to the pair.

But, all he received in response were a couple of silent, lackadaisical nods of acknowledgement.

"Say, you didn't have to go and get quiet all of a sudden on my account." John now sarcastically said, as he took a few more steps out onto the balcony, his own acute sense of hearing having picked up on the fact that something was being discussed out here right before his arrival.

"Like that'd ever happen." Logan quickly replied, with a lit cigar positioned in between his index and forefinger, "Fact of the matter is, I came out here to get a smoke in peace away from all o' you chatterboxes. But, it looks like that idea didn't pan out quite like I was expectin'."

With a playful nod Logan turned his gaze over towards Mariko, who was standing closeby and leaning forward against the balcony's concrete safety barricade in a manner almost identical to him. Mariko responded with a smirking glance of her own, her mood once again appearing more upbeat than when she had first came out here. Logan and Mariko then made their way over towards John with their conversation, or whatever, apparently concluded.

Back inside, with his X-Men at last fully assembled, Professor Xavier prepared to brief them on what he had discovered regarding the danger posed by this powerful new mutant. And more importantly, on what their response would be.

"Using this portable version of Cerebro, I have pinpointed this mutant's location to a remote island here." Professor Xavier was in the midst of explaining, while directing his X-Men's attention over to the screen of an expensive-looking laptop computer, from which this miniature Cerebro II was being powered, "Given the fact that this entire island chain to the south remains virtually uninhabited due to frequent volcanic activity, and that it also lies along a major tectonic-pressurepoint, we should consider the possibility that these recent seismic events may be more than just sheer coincidence."

Professor Xavier then reached over onto the wheeled-tablecart beside him to pick up a small electronic device of some sort, which lay next to a helmet that was connected to the laptop.

"This scanner has been calibrated to interface with this Cerebro unit via a special transceiver link. It will aid you in finding this mutant, while I remain here and continue to monitor any further changes or new activity." Professor Xavier explained, as he held the calculator-sized device up for all to see.

"Are you sure that this thing will really work?" Mariko asked, as she took the device into her gloved-grasp for a moment, and then passed it along so that the rest of her teammates' could also get an up close look at it.

"While they may not be as powerful as their full-sized counterpart back home, in tandem they are capable of aiding us with such a task. And as I seem to recall, I had little trouble in using them to assist me in locating you when I was last here, Ms. Yashida." Professor X replied to Mariko's inquiry, doing so with a wry smile.

"Then with that in mind, I believe the time has come for us to once again make proper use of it." Storm now said to the entire group, as the X-Men took her cue and turned to head for the door alongside their team leader.

And, with Professor X silently wishing them Godspeed in their return.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Later, after having collectively made their way down to the hotel's basement-level parking garage where their rental van was, the X-Men were once again traveling along Tokyo's myriad streets with Logan also currently back behind the wheel. But, none of them had the slightest clue as to where their designated driver was taking them, with one exception.

"Alright, we're here." Logan announced some time later, as he put the passenger vehicle into park and then hopped out of it.

"O-kay. So are you, um, going to tell us what we're doing way over here in Yokohama?" Mariko asked, as she and the rest of the X-Men stepped out of the van with him.

Having parked near one of the numerous piers that looked out onto the Yokohama Bay Bridge, which they had just crossed, the four younger X-Men took a brief moment to take in this sight before turning to follow Logan down a pathway that ran along this wharf. And Mariko's question would soon be answered, when their quick journey ended in front of one of the many waterfront warehouses that lined these docks.

"We're here to pick up our ride here." Logan now gave his belated response to Mariko, after punching in the access code at the warehouse's entrance to let them in.

Once inside, his fellow X-Men were a bit surprised by the sight that they were met with one floor down. In this seemingly ordinary storage area sat a sleek, world-class speedboat.

"Heyyy! Very Crockett and Tubbs there." Morph happily chimed in first, approvingly giving Logan a two-thumbs up as the group walked down the steel stair-steps towards it.

Morph then walked over to this stealth-boat, which was painted almost completely black, so that he could more closely inspect it.

"Just c'mon and give me a hand with this, will ya?" Logan replied to Morph, shaking his head and sighing at the same time, while also coming over so that he could disconnect a heavy cable that was wrapped around the boat's hull.

Meanwhile as Morph went to release the rest of the restraining cables attached on both sides used to keep the craft in place, Logan went over to another nearby wall and pulled a large lever-switch down. Immediately, a large section of the warehouse's far-side wall slid open to reveal an unfettered view of the waterfront outside. Simultaneously, an automated and lengthy roller conveyor extended out from underneath the suspension ramp that the speedboat was resting upon, reaching well beyond the edge of these lower docks into the harbor itself.

"So, how'd you wind up swinging a sweet ride like this anyways?" John curiously asked, as he too stood and gave the expensive-looking vessel a visual once-over.

"Let's just say an old employer's repayin' me a favor that they owe. Only, they don't quite know it yet." Logan smirkingly replied.

But, just as Logan and the rest of the gang were about to step up and board the speedboat so they could head out for their awaiting final destination, they began to feel a trembling through the steel-grated floor beneath their feet. Time slowed to a crawl, as the seconds now seemed to endlessly tick by. As these tremors increased exponentially in their magnitude, it quickly became apparent that they were now experiencing what the citizens of Japan had been dealing with over the last 48 hours.

And, what one among their number had already lived through so long, hoping that she might be spared such a traumatic re-enactment here. But alas, she would receive no such reprieve as memories flashed-back to a Cairo in ruins.

Back to being that scared little girl crying out for her parent's warm embrace, but finding no solace. Back to being helplessly trapped beneath a dark and heavy rubble-heap, which until moments ago, had been the building that they called home. Back, to the start of a sad new chapter in her young life, in which she would have to learn to carry on without the love that only a mother and father could offer.

"No, not again..." Ororo, who had been quieter than normal during their ride over here now said, as she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself underneath the small cloak incorporated into the jacket of her new uniform.

So strong and violent were these latest tremors that it felt as though they would rip the entire docks completely apart, as the X-Men all struggled to maintain their footing and balance. Sensing this and no longer able to keep the firm check over her emotions that she always tried to maintain, tears began to stream down Ororo's face as she fell down to both knees and began to hyperventilate.

But, seeing her figuratively and literally fall into such a panicked state, John instinctively rushed over to Ororo's side.

"Ororo..." John said, in an attempt to get her attention as he knelt down beside her.

"I can feel it, it's happening again! Mother-earth is calling out to me now as it did then, and I know we're going to die!" Ororo, who in the midst of a complete emotional meltdown, was now babbling uncharacteristically and semi-incoherently to herself with her eyes still shut, not even noticing that John was kneeling right next to her as she slowly rocked herself back and forth.

So, John took it upon himself to make his presence known, having an intimate inkling as to why she was reacting in the manner that she was.

"It's okay, Ororo. You're not alone, I'm right here with you." John reassuringly told Ororo, while gently wrapping his massive arms around her in a condoling embrace, which had an immediate and calming effect on her, "You're stronger now, and we're going to get through this together. You'll see, things're going to be alright. "

Upon hearing his encouraging words, Ororo rapidly began to regain her composure. Which also came at a most fortuitous time, since three rather sizable water funnels had suddenly sprung up out in the harbor, right after this earthquake had started. But, both they and this latest seismic event had seemed to depart just as quickly.

"Thank you." Ororo, who was now able to look up, said to John and managed a small smile towards him to show her appreciation.

"No problem." John replied, his arm still embracively around Ororo as he wiped the remnants of a tear from her cheek, "Besides, I remember a wise-woman once saying we're teammates, and that's what we do."

John then looked up and over in Mariko's direction. But, before Mariko could reply regarding the attribution of that particular quote, another teammate threw in his two-cents.

"If you two lovebirds are finished, why don't we get this show on the road before another one of those quakes hits?" Logan gruffly said to John and Ororo.

Although his delivery did leave something to be desired, his teammates' couldn't argue with the point that Logan was getting at. And not wanting to waste anymore valuable time, the X-Men expeditiously helped with launching the speedboat out into the harbor. Before long, they were all aboard this ultra-fast and ultra-light vessel, rapidly heading due south and out to sea.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Riding out across these dark and choppy waves, the X-Men readied themselves for whatever lay ahead as they drew closer to the signal resonating on their portable tracking device. And after what seemed like an eternity, they felt the craft suddenly start to decelerate in speed.

"We're almost there." Wolverine said, as they slowed down and he stood at the boat's steering-wheel.

Even though he had the boat's built-in and advanced navigational controls in front of him, along with a dim and inconspicuous blue masthead light to help guide them pointed towards the island's shore, Wolverine's keen eyesight also allowed him to accomplish the task without their aid. This gift of his also enabled him to see something else before any of his teammates' did.

"Well, looks like we just got us an answer on whether these earthquakes've been freak accidents or not." Wolverine said, looking further inland onto an island that was supposed to be uninhabited.

While he could see things perfectly even from this distance and in near pitch darkness with just his naked eye, Wolverine went and got a pair of night-vision binoculars out of a secret compartment on the boat. He then handed them to Storm, so that he could show her what he was talking about. Which, she saw was an island crawling with men who were armed with heavy automatic weapons stationed all over.

"Then we had best proceed with extreme caution." Storm responded, as she brought the binoculars back down and then handed them to Mariko, who was standing beside her.

"Not to sound crazy or anything, but doesn't this place remind you of that island from Enter the Dragon?" Morph remarked, after using his powers to create his own binoculars right out of his eyes to help him look out across the watery distance.

"Nah, that doesn't sound crazy at all. I'm actually starting to get that vibe too." Thunderbird replied, using his own naturally-enhanced vision to stare out through the darkness at the carefully guarded fortress on-land, "Although, we've got 'The Claw' right here with us."

"Man, you come straight out of a comic book!" Morph abruptly and teasingly turned to say to Wolverine. Which drew a small chuckle from some of his teammates, as his own hair (or current lack thereof) suddenly sprouted out into a huge afro.

But, Wolverine's only response was a low-pitched growl, accompanied with a barely audible phrase:

_"Hmmph. Look who the hell's talkin'..."_

Wolverine then continued with his maneuvering of the boat towards an area of the shoreline, which would help ensure that their arrival remained unnoticed, at least for the time-being.

After quickly anchoring and tying the boat off, the X-Men made their way across the somewhat rocky shore towards the centuries-old walled fortress, following Wolverine's lead by using the surrounding trees and shrubbery to further conceal their approach. Once they had made it to the castle, each member used their unique mutant powers and abilities to scale the monstrous stone-wall that surrounded it, quietly slipping over and into the heart of this secret base of operations.

But their need for stealth came to an unceremonious end, when upon coming through the castle's main entrance they were met by a waiting squad of armed soldiers.

"**Let 'em have it**!" Wolverine shouted to his fellow X-Men, as more of a declaration of fact than a command.

Over the last several months, Logan had both trained and trained with these four teenagers now jumping into action alongside him. And while deep down he probably had more confidence in them and their abilities than even they did, as a hardened soldier himself he knew that this time was different. That no amount of training, Danger Room or otherwise, could truly prepare you for the fact that someone is shooting at you.

But, watching Sunfire use an intense and focused flame-barrier to slag the bullets, coupled with Storm scattering the molten fragments back at the soldiers, gave Thunderbird an opening to strike out himself against these gun-toting mercenaries.

Meanwhile, Morph transformed both of his hands into two large metallic anvils, using them to deflect any rounds fired in his direction before connecting back with them in his own brand of heavy-metal communication.

But determined not to let anything slow him down, bullets or otherwise, Wolverine wildly attacked with two fistfuls of claws aimed at a small group of soldiers. And while he did enjoy this opportunity to indulge in these physicalities, Wolverine still felt a bit conflicted.

Having to hold back and not just gut these jokers' flat out, seemed so unnatural and out of character for a being as feral as Wolverine. But, he had given his word to the Professor that he would give an earnest effort in learning to control his 'berserker rages', and he intended on following through with that promise.

While this fight raged on, with the X-Men proving to be more than a match for their outnumbering opponents, unnoticed to them another lone figure lurked in the shadows close by. Watching and waiting for the perfect moment to make his presence known.

"What' goin' on? You guys chickenin' out now?" Wolverine asked aloud, when the armed group of assailants surrounding him suddenly ceased in their attack against him.

"They have halted, because this fight is at an end." A rather imposing figure informed one of these intruders, and now stood before them all.

"Says who?" Wolverine turned around and inquired of this mysterious individual, who had miraculously managed to make his entrance without Wolverine's hyper-keen senses even picking him up.

"Says, Moses Magnum!" Magnum replied with his own self-introduction.

With everyone's focus now on him, the X-Men also saw that Moses Magnum had managed to get the drop on one of their teammates.

"Unless you care to see what the human body looks like after being exposed to the full fury of my Magnum-force, I would suggest that you surrender immediately." Moses issued his threat, as he stood with his right hand around the throat of a currently unconscious Morph and held his other gloved-one up in a fist at shoulder-level, with the air around it appearing to literally vibrate from the sheer power that this man possessed.

And it had its desired effect, as the rest of the X-Men refrained from any further hostilities and were quickly restrained by the soldiers.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

After being cuffed and brought down into the heart of this mountain base, which in reality was a live and active volcano beneath this deceptively serene island, the X-Men were taken to a more secure holding cell. And, were of course escorted there personally by their host.

"Terminator-X called dude, and said for you to stop jockin' his style." Morph, who despite being fairly groggy from the shot that he had received earlier, still managed to look up an quip in observation of the black and gray militaristic uniform and block-style sunglasses that Moses Magnum had on.

"You're rather glib, particularly for someone in your position." Magnum replied, as the X-Men were each being strapped into what appeared to be specially-built confinements.

"And what, exactly, does that portend for us?" Storm coolly and flatly asked, no stranger to life and death experiences herself.

"If you are lucky, a quick and merciful end. Your ultimate fates will be decided after I have contacted my benefactors to inform them of my progress." Magnum replied, as this man of well over six-feet in height stood under the entrance to this holding cell.

"Progress? We've figured out that you're causing these earthquakes, but why? It doesn't make any sense." Sunfire inquired, as she was strapped into something that looked like a full-body straightjacket.

"Power, plain and simple. By using my Magnumtron to precipitate shifting between the geological plates in this region, the resulting vibrational energy released is collected back into my device and amplified. Soon, I will have power enough at my disposal to summon an earthquake of such magnitude that it will cause a chain reaction, piercing the Earth's crust and shattering this tectonic plate completely. The thousands of magma fissures and new land masses created as a result will provide an incalculable number of new mineral-rich resources."

"But you'll kill millions of innocent people in the process!" Sunfire vocally pointed out.

"Sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the greater good." Magnum objectively replied to her.

"**Greater good**!?" You really are crazy! I won't let you get away with this!" Sunfure shouted, as she struggled in vain to free herself from the straightjacket, and also found that she was unable to activate her flame-based mutant powers, despite her best efforts.

"This cell was designed to contain the Fantastic Four. So, you will also find it more than adequate against any attempts to free yourselves." Magnum calmly explained, as he ventured further into the cell and over towards Sunfire, "I am, however, sympathetic to your concerns for your countrymen."

"You, who intend to commit mass-murder on such an unthinkable scale, what would you know of sympathy, or compassion for that matter?" Storm accusatively inquired of Moses Magnum.

"While much blood has been spilled on my pathway to power, I have never taken any pleasure in drawing it." Magnum replied, now turning his attention to Storm who was chained close to where Sunfire was, "Particularly, from fellow kinsmen. And women."

"That makes you no less the monster." Storm told Magnum, making direct eye contact with him despite the shaded-glasses that he had on.

"Perhaps. But, we must be what we are." Magnum deferred, looking around the room at these bound and chained individuals, "And, while I had anticipated one day crossing paths with others like myself, I had never expected to be confronted by those so young."

Magnum then looked over at Wolverine, before continuing with a slight smirk.

"Well, most of you."

"What, young psychos." Morph remarked, having only just recovered in time to catch the last part of this conversation.

"No, Morph. He means other mutants." Storm clarified for her teammate.

"So, that is how the powers-that-be are referring to us now?" Magnum wondered aloud.

"Doesn't matter anyways. A label's just that." Thunderbird managed to add, in spite of the strength-sapping device that he had been placed in. Which, had originally been designed to hold back The Thing.

"True." Magnum responded to Thunderbird's surprisingly astute observation, "But enough, there are other matters that I must now attend to."

And with that said, Moses Magnum turned around to take his leave from the cell.

"So, you got any bright ideas on how to spring' us from this fancy rat-trap?" Wolverine looked over and asked Storm once their host was gone, "I mean, seein' as you're technically supposed to be runnin' this show."

"I will call upon the goddess for the strength necessary to break these bonds." Storm replied.

"Great. Just what I was lookin' to hear." Wolverine skeptically told her with a roll of his eyes.

"Didn't you hear him? This cell was built to block our powers." Sunfire reminded her, while continuing her seemingly futile attempts to free herself.

"No, this cell was designed to counteract the powers of the Fantastic Four, not us." Storm corrected her teammate, who had still unluckily wound up in a contraption originally meant for the Human Torch, "And I intend to take full advantage of that oversight."

As soon as she had completed that sentence, the air inside of the cell seemed to become charged with electricity, and for good reason. Not known, nor taken into account by her captors was the fact that Storm not only commanded the winds, but was capable of manipulating nearly every aspect of the weather-spectrum, and did so on a regular basis.

Which included the ability to generate lightning on a whim, and to use her own body as a living, breathing electrical storage battery. Power in her own right, that Storm used to overload and short-circuit the electronic locking mechanisms of the restraints being used to subdue her.

"Satisfied?" Storm came over and asked Wolverine with an unusually cavalier expression, as she set to the task of freeing him next.

"Sure, 'boss'." Wolverine sarcastically replied and grimaced briefly at the short, but extremely powerful, bursts of electricity that surged down each of his arms, as Storm shorted-out his restraints that were positioned from overhead.

The pair then went to release the rest of their teammates, with Wolverine going to cut Sunfire loose and Storm using her electric touch to deactivate the suppressive manacles locked around Thunderbird's arms and legs, before going to do much the same for Morph.

"Man, does it feel good to be outta that thing!" Thunderbird exclaimed, happy to be free and able stand up fully again.

Meanwhile, Storm went next to shut down the device that Morph was strapped in, which had been designed to accommodate for Mr. Fantastic's shape-changing abilities.

"I bet you'll all feel a hell of a lot better once we go 'n put this joker down for the count!" Wolverine told the others, holding up a fistful of claws for added emphasis, "Follow me."

And follow they did, as Wolverine had a fix on the scent of the man behind this entire destructive scheme. The X-Men all knew that this time things were going to be settled.

One way, or the other.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Far below the island's surface, Moses Magnum carefully observed and examined the fruition of his calculated endeavor. On numerous screens throughout this control-hub, his henchmen monitored the Magnumtron and estimated when the next cycle-stage would be complete. When, Moses Magnum would be able to at last unleash the full fury of his amplified powers, despite the cataclysmic destruction and loss of life that were certain to occur as a result.

But just as he was preparing to enter the powering chamber of this nefarious device, Magnum and his men ironically found themselves on the receiving end of a jarring shock felt through the floor below. From a loud explosion in a corridor that was just outside of this auditorium-sized room.

"What is the meaning of this?" Magnum demanded to know from his subordinates, thinking that there had been a malfunction of some kind. But that line of speculation ended the moment more of his men entered from the corridor, running with their weapons drawn.

And with the trespassers, who were supposed o be securely locked away, in tow close behind.

"I see that you are more than eager to die, coming here to confront me instead of being satisfied to escape this island with your miserable lives intact." Magnum shouted, jumping over the railing of the observation platform where he had been standing and landing down on the steel-tiled floor below. So, that he could confront the X-Men face to face, "Very well, you will find that Moses Magnum is more than prepared to accommodate you."

The chamber was rocked once again, this time by an eruption of power as Storm and Sunfire launched a joint simultaneous attack against Moses Magnum, while Wolverine and Thunderbird kept the remaining armed soldiers occupied. Using his own magnum-force, he was able to focus these intense energies from within into a vibrational-shield capable of deflecting this barrage of lightning bolts and atomic fireballs being hurled at him.

But, what Moses Magnum had failed to realize was that this was another diversionary tactic being employed by the X-Men, to give their teammate an opening this time against him.

**WHAM!**

With the seeming force of a mack-truck, Moses Magnum felt himself struck severely from behind. The shot was more than enough to take him off of his feet and send him flying forward with significant momentum. But even more shocking than this transgression, was the sight that met him when Magnum turned back to see who had been lucky enough to deliver such a blow.

"Folks always sayin', 'Hammer, please don't hurt 'em!' But with some folks, the only way you can get through is by knockin' some sense into 'em." Morph, who had managed to slip past Magnum posing as one of his retreating guards, said as he stood over the man now in the guise of a giant talking sledgehammer, while vocally imitating another famous Hammer.

As Morph turned to walk over and rejoin his teammates, he left with one last parting shot to their downed foe.

"Heh. Guess that's a habit I'll have to learn to kick one of these days?"

Meanwhile, as Magnum pondered the sheer lunacy of having been incapacitated in such a manner, Hammer-Morph went over to where the other X-Men were currently in conference on how best to proceed next.

"So, what've you guys come up with?" Morph asked as he came running up, shifting back to his normal appearance.

"Well, we figured out this gizmo is probably behind all the shakin' that's been goin' on." Wolverine said, as they looked at the giant device that Magnum had been atop moments ago, "But, I'll be damned if I know how to turn it off."

And with that admission, Morph walked over to one of the input terminals connected to the Magnumtron, cracking his knuckles before he started typing on the computer keyboard. After less than a minute of searching its databanks, Morph turned back to face his teammates with a huge smile.

"Well, what do we do?" Thunderbird asked, of Morph and from the rest of the group.

"Whaddaya mean, what-do-you-do?!" Morph replied, changing his appearance once again to that of an old, gravelly-voiced boxing trainer, "You get in there and do what you do best, kid! Ya hit him high and low, hard and fast, until you take that bum out!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Wolverine remarked with a smile, which was rare when it came to Morph's antics, "T-Bird, why dont'cha give me a hand up there?"

Looking up to where Wolverine had been pointing with his claws, Thunderbird responded just as they had practiced for some time now in the Danger Room back home. With a shot-putter's strength and a baseball pitcher's accuracy, Thunderbird tossed Wolverine up to the top of the Magnumtron.

Where Wolverine went to work with his claws in savagely ripping the device apart, along with the rest of the X-Men joining in down below to do much the same with their own unique powers. By the time Moses Magnum had regained his bearings enough that he could have tried to stop them, he knew that he was already too late.

With this dynamo of destruction set to discharge its super-charged shockwave in mere moments, and with its release-valves cut and damaged, all of the energy stored within it had only one place to go. Which was apparent to everyone present, judging by all of their expeditious efforts to get as far away from here as possible before that happened.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

After racing back to the speedboat, so that they would be off of this island before the final curtain fell on Moses Magnum's villainous machinations, the X-Men were treated to a fireworks display of epic proportions.

"I'd say that's gonna set his twisted little strip-mining operation back a few years, at least." John remarked, as their boat cast a few miles away from the island, but was still close enough for them to see the blinding explosion and to feel its calamitous waves.

"Hopefully, it will be for good." Ororo optimistically added, as she stood next to John on the now gently rocking watercraft.

"Well, at least we showed him a thing or two about good vibrations." Morph mockingly said next.

"No kidding!" Mariko smilingly responded.

It was the genuinely happiest expression that Morph had see from Mariko in weeks, and he was glad that his friend was finally coming out of the doleful funk that she had been in. But, when he went to put his arm around her as a supportive gesture, to say that everything had worked out after all, her reaction was one that he hadn't been expecting.

"Okay, what'd I do wrong now?" Morph sighingly asked, when Mariko shrugged off and shied away from him, his own tone sounding and coming out a bit more defensive than he had intended.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Mariko replied, raising an eyebrow and becoming a bit defensive herself.

"Look, I know that you've buggin' over this whole thing with your parents. And, I know it wasn't my business to butt my nose into, but it's not like they haven't had time to get used to the idea that you're a mutant." Morph told her, "I mean, my Dad freaked at first too. But, now he's totally dealing."

"That's what you think this is all about?" Mariko replied, almost laughingly, as she turned to fully face Morph.

"Well, yeah. Isn't it?" Morph asked, now with a truly puzzled visage.

"Just because you have such a cool and understanding Dad makes you one of the lucky ones. Because, not all of us have parents like that. Mine don't even know that I'm a mutant, although I'm sure they'd be just thrilled to hear that too." Mariko replied with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

"Um, you've totally lost me." Morph responded, only seeming to become more and more confused as this conversation progressed.

Unable to hold back or keep up her desperate facade any longer, an explosion even greater than the one they had just witnessed suddenly and unexpectedly occurred right there on the speedboat.

"**Don't you get it**! The reason I ran away from home wasn't because I'm a mutant. It's because my parents found out that I'm gay, Morph!" Mariko yelled, not just at Morph, but also for the benefit of everyone else present on the boat.

And in that instant, the reality of that fact hit her like a brick. That she had just slipped and blurted out her most tightly-held secret in front of all of her friends. That, they had just found it out in such an embarrassing way, and definitely not in the manner that she had ever envisioned, and now knowing that there would be no taking it back. Upon realizing all of this, Mariko couldn't bear to face any of them and rushed to the rear of the boat crying, without saying another word to anyone.

While Ororo went to the back of the boat to check on and console Mariko, Morph and John each took a seat up front with Logan, as he put the ultra-fast craft into gear and steered them on course back to Tokyo.

And, even if it hadn't been for the quieted propulsion from the phantom engines on this stealth speedboat, those aboard could've probably still heard a pin drop on the way back. Mainly, due to the current state of silence between these usually boisterous and talkative teens, now in transit back to Japan's mainland.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Early the next morning, speculation ran wild on various news-feeds as to the cause behind a strange and violent explosion on one of Japan's more remote island chains. So much so that SHIELD spokeswoman, Senior-Agent de La Fontaine, made a brief on-camera appearance to assure the public that, while a full investigation was still ongoing, they had matters quite in hand and that everything was under control.

But for one viewer, who had been there the night before and knew first-hand just how out of control things had almost gotten, she had little interest in listening to this any further. No, she had other, more important things on her mind.

Things, which she felt she couldn't wait any longer to say.

Hearing what sounded like a knock on the door outside of his hotel room, Morph couldn't help but wonder who was out there at this hour? After stumbling through the shadowy darkness of these not-yet familiar surroundings, Morph would receive a definite answer a few moments later.

"Oh, hi." Morph said, elated at seeing the one person that he had hoped would be there.

"Hi."Mariko briefly replied, with a smile. Both at the fact that he had opened the door up, and that he was standing there wearing a set of light-blue Thundercats pajamas.

"Um, you wanna come in? And talk?" Morph asked, after a few awkward moments of silence between them.

"Yeah. I, uh, think we probably should." Mariko replied with a bit of nervousness, walking into the room past Morph as he closed the door behind her.

Mariko then went over and took a seat on a sofa in this main room, readjusting and pulling the short pink kimono robe that she was wearing back together over a gray sports-bra and boxers underneath.

Meanwhile, Morph went over to a nearby wall and turned on the lights, leaving them at their dimmest setting, before he closed the door to an adjoining room where John was still asleep. Then, he came and took a seat himself in another chair adjacent to Mariko.

And there they both sat, with neither able to find the words to say to the other. Which was a shame, since these two under normal circumstances could and often did talk for hours, seemingly non-stop.

"Morph, I'm sorry for flipping out on you like that. I know you must hate me right now, and I guess I can't really blame you." Mariko said, saying some of the things that had been going through her mind while sitting up most of this night alone on her bed.

"C'mon, what kind of a broomhead do you think I am?" Morph smiled and told her, "Why would I hate you?"

"Even now, that you know…" Mariko questioned Morph.

"That, you're gay? Yeah, you kinda mentioned that." Morph said, nodding his head and finishing Mariko's sentence for her in the process, "I mean, you could've just been straight with me from the beginning. No pun intended."

"It's…just, that I wanted to tell you so many times, but I didn't know how. And, after the way my parents pretty much disowned me when they found out I was gay, I was afraid of how all of you would react. I mean, you guys' are like my only friends in the world, and…well, you've probably been the best friend I've ever had. And, I didn't want to lose that. Any of that." Mariko said to Morph, pausing to take a deep breath before continuing.

"But, when I realized how you really felt about me, I didn't want to hurt you either. I guess I just felt like I was in a no-win situation."

"Well, you're not. And we're still your friends, no matter what." Morph reassuringly said to her, as he got up from his chair and went over to Mariko, sitting down on the sofa right beside her.

He then put both arms around her in a hugging embrace. And this time there was no hesitation on Mariko's part, as she eagerly reciprocated and returned the gesture.

"Well, now that we've had our after-school-special moment, why don't we let John get some sleep?" Mariko humorously said, now standing up from the sofa while wiping a single tear from her eye, although it definitely wasn't one of sadness, "You can come over to my and Ororo's room and watch some TV with me. I think Lupin III might be on right now."

"Um, okay. Is it anything like Golgo-13 or Akira?" Morph curiously asked, revealing his rather casual knowledge of Japanese anime in general.

"Uh…not quite." Mariko replied with a smirk, as they stepped out into the hallway together, "But, I think you'll still like it a lot."

And as this now reconciled pair made their way down the hall, dressed in their usual early morning attire, they happened to catch the notice of one of the hotel's staff. Who wondered to himself, and was a bit confused, as to why the heir to one of this nation's most honored and well-known families would place herself in such a compromising and potentially embarrassing situation as this?

He also thought to himself that, out of respect, perhaps the head of the Clan Yashida should be notified immediately of his daughter's indiscreet activities, before things got too far out of hand…

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

A/N: For any reviewers out there curious about what was actually said between Mariko and Logan out on the hotel balcony, right before John came out there, just let me know I'll PM a copy of that brief deleted scene to you.


	7. Sunday Will Never Be The Same

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**xxx**

Chapter 7- Sunday Will Never Be The Same

-_Bayville, New York_

On this crisp and clear morning at the Xavier Institute there is a peace to be found in its surrounding tranquility that is irresistible to one of its residents in particular, and that can also be equally appreciated by a couple of others. So, it should've been no surprise when John Proudstar came and got Logan to show him something out there on the estate's grounds.

Although, what he had found had little to do with the serene conditions currently out there.

"What the hell were you doin' up and way out here this early anyways, kid?" Logan asked John, as the pair walked out through these woodlands together, which literally went on for miles in just about every direction out from the mansion.

"You aren't the only one around here who enjoys the great outdoors, Pops." John smirkingly replied, referring to how he used to go off by himself on his reservation back home.

"So, I've noticed." Logan replied simply as they continued on.

John was also somewhat referencing the white _gi_ pants that Logan had on, since he too had been off by himself training on another part of the grounds this morning, when John had finally managed to track him down.

After a few more minutes of walking, Logan and John had finally reached their destination with this last leg of their journey made in relative silence. It was thanks to a lack of conversation between them and to the seasonal absence of forest creatures, who were either hibernating or had migrated due south for the winter. It was here at this spot that John went over and pointed out to Logan the unusual object that he had stumbled across, which had been the reason for John coming to get him in the first place. A stone-marker carved out in an obelisk shape with inscriptions all over it that sort of looked like hieroglyphics, or some kind of alien language.

Or, at least it had been.

"What happened to it?" Logan asked, noticing that the stone-marker had been split into two, with the upper-half having toppled over onto the ground and shattered into several smaller fragments.

"I didn't even see the damn thing until it was too late and ran right into it on accident." John explained, as the object had seemed to almost pop up from out of nowhere in front of him, "But, I barely even touched it."

"Barely touched it? I bet!" Logan sarcastically replied, referring to John's own inordinate strength-level and the fact that he was still learning to completely control it.

But, Logan also found it very odd that John's heightened senses hadn't warned him, nor had his superior reflexes kept him, from avoiding this collision altogether.

"Still, pretty bizarre, huh?" John commented about the marker's unusual appearance, but drew no immediate or discernible reaction from Logan, who himself was busy visually studying this object's separated sections.

Logan couldn't recall having ever seen anything remotely like it, although his powers of recollection were generally spotty at best.

"Let's take it back to the Professor, see if he's got any idea what it's supposed to be?" Logan said, as he gestured for John to go pick up the part of the marker that was still intact.

Which he did with amazing ease, as John uprooted the marker's lower base portion and proceeded to carry it back to the mansion propped up across one of his broad shoulders. Meanwhile, Logan went and pulled a cigar from a small case that was in a pocket of his pants and lit it, before continuing their trek back to the mansion.

Speaking of which...

**xxx**

Down several hundred feet below the Xavier Institute, Ororo and Mariko had just finished running an extra simulation exercise in the Danger Room, the X-Men's secret state of the art underground training facility. Extra, because this session had been assigned to the pair by Professor Xavier after learning that they had left the Institute grounds yesterday, so that they could catch a killer sale at the mall. One, which Mariko simply couldn't miss or resist.

But, what had actually gotten the pair in trouble was the fact that Storm and Sunfire had made this journey into town the day before via their mutant powers. Which broke one of the few rules that the Professor strictly emphasized to his students', as evidenced by the fairly grueling nature of this early morning workout session that he had just run these two young ladies through.

"Man, I have parts of me aching right now that I didn't even know I had?" Mariko humorously remarked, or at least tried to, as she came in and gingerly took a seat on one of the polished-steel benches inside of this sub-basement locker room that was designated for the girls'.

"I wholly concur." Ororo replied in agreement, as she went over to open the door to one of the full-sized lockers in there. Ororo then unzipped the top, jacket-half of her black and tan X-uniform down the front, revealing a black low-cut bra underneath.

"Sorry about getting you into all this trouble in the first place." Mariko now apologetically said, as she quickly stood up and spun around, turning her back to Ororo while she also began taking off her uniform.

"It's quite alright. Besides, it is not as though you were the only one who benefited from our brief shopping excursion." Ororo smiled in response, referring to the various bargains that they had both come across yesterday.

"Yeah, it was SO worth it!" Mariko said with a smile, after giving it a second-thought.

But, when Ororo looked back up after removing her black boots and kevlar-stitched gloves, she noticed something else. Something, which had repeatedly caught her attention several times now, both here in their locker room and yesterday in the dressing rooms' of the various department stores that she and Mariko had visited during their impromptu shopping trip. All ever since the team had returned home from Japan a couple of weeks ago.

"You know, you don't have to do that." Ororo reposefully said, after placing the pair of black wedge-toe boots that were also a part of her uniform down at the bottom of her locker and then going to casually lean back against another locker next to it.

"Do, what?" Mariko asked in response, still facing away with her back turned towards Ororo.

"Act as though you're embarrassed to be in here with me." Ororo told her, as she came over to this side of the locker room, and gently put her hand up on Mariko's shoulder. Ororo then slowly turned her teammate back around to face her, the both of them now each in a state of semi-undress.

"It's, just...well, I didn't want to make you feel weird or uncomfortable around me. You know, in here." Mariko admitted to her.

"It's not as though you haven't seen me in here without clothes before, and vice-versa." Ororo raised an eyebrow and pointed out.

"Yeah, well that was before I announced to the entire world that whole 'me-being-gay-thing'. And in award-winning fashion, I might add." Mariko sarcastically replied, finally bringing up the subject that they had been skirting around.

One, which hadn't really been discussed between them, not since that emotional boat-ride back that night following the destruction of Moses Magnum's island stronghold, where Ororo had lent a shoulder for Mariko to cry on.

"That fact has not changed anything between us." Ororo reiterated for Mariko's benefit, "And besides, if I am not bothered by Morph's rather puerile observations of me outside, then I am more than confident that I will be fine being unclothed around you as well."

With a wry smirk, and as if to help further prove her point to Mariko, Ororo fully removed the remainder of her uniform gear right there in front of her teammate and closest friend. This former teenage weather-goddess then strolled uninhibitedly past Mariko, heading over towards the adjoining shower area.

But instead of hearing the sound of a shower faucet being turned on, Mariko was greeted next by the small crackle of thunder, as a mini-torrent of rain had suddenly sprung up from within there. It appeared that Ororo had found yet another way to put her own unique spin on the whole showering concept, now in here just as she had in the skies outside above.

**xxx**

Later that evening, Professor Xavier had retired to his personal study and still hard at work as usual. His overly-rigorous work ethic had led his students' to speculate amongst themselves as to whether their teacher even knew what it meant to actually take a day off?

But, if the Professor ever decided that he was in need of pointers on how to live it up, then the young man now striding through the entrance of his study would certainly be more than qualified to provide them to him.

"I must say, I was pleasantly surprised when you called earlier and said that you wished to come speak with me, Mr. Stark." Professor Xavier said from behind his sizable hardwood desk.

Surprised, because Professor Xavier had heard and read a great many things about this brilliant, barely twenty-something engineer and inventor who held multiple degrees ranging across a variety of scientific disciplines. With the least of those having to do with the exploits surrounding young Mr. Stark's purported billionaire playboy lifestyle.

"C'mon, Mr. Stark was my old man. You can just call me Tony." Anthony 'Tony' Stark replied, as he walked further into the study and took a seat in front of the desk across from the Professor. These two men, who were now facing one another and were both impeccably dressed in custom-tailored suits in spite of it having been a leisurely Sunday afternoon.

"Yes, your father and I first met some time ago. I had the pleasure of conversing with him on numerous occasions, and was saddened to hear of his recent passing." Professor Xavier said to the now heir apparent to the empire that Howard Stark built.

"Yeah." Tony responded, with a hint more ambiguity in his tone towards the subject of his father, and the burdensome legacy that had been left behind for him to shoulder at such a fairly young age.

"So, you said that there was something that you wanted to discuss with me in person?" Professor Xavier, leaning back slightly in his chair, now asked as they continued with their conversation.

"Well, it was more of a curiosity on my part. I just wanted to meet the man who actually shelled out the dough for a device that even our own U.S. Department of Defense deemed too expensive for practical use." Tony revealed, doing so with a million-dollar smile that was literally worth every single penny.

"I assume that you are referring to the holographic-matrix that I purchased from your company?" Professor Xavier easily surmised.

And now was truly surprised, since his transactions of this nature were supposed to be conducted through a series of unrelated and non-descript holding companies, whose sole purpose was to keep his identity entirely confidential. Or so he had thought, until now.

"Ah, that would be it." Tony replied, who also made himself more comfortable by leaning back into his seat, and crossed his right leg up to rest it on his left knee.

"I trust that you had little trouble with clearing the check made out to you?" Professor Xavier further inquired, with a slight smirk and a small dose of humor thrown in.

"Not at all. I'm not here to collect on funds owed, or anything like that, Mr. Xavier. I've just been wondering why a noted expert in the field of genetics would have need of a multi-million dollar strategic military combat-simulator?" Tony asked point-blank, having switched roles and was now the one who was asking the questions.

"I run a rather exclusive private school, and saw it as a potentially valuable teaching aid. By being able to recreate far-off global environments for my students' to explore." Professor Xavier was able to explain to Tony, and do so with a straight-face.

"Hmmph. Most teacher's would just rely on hour-long geographic film documentaries for that." Tony skeptically remarked, using the arm of his chair to prop his hand up against the side of his face.

"As you will find, I am not like most teachers. And one of fortunate means and resources, which I would think you more than most could understand and appreciate my occasional need to flaunt." Professor Xavier said, furthering his attempts at subterfuge to mask what the virtual-reality training matrix was really being used for several dozen feet below them.

But, in spite of his relative youth, Tony Stark quickly proved to Professor Xavier that he hadn't been born yesterday.

"I can see that you're a man of secrets. Which, is actually something that I can understand and appreciate more than you know." Tony said, having gotten the answer that he had been seeking about the only person to purchase his first major invention. Even, if it had come to him in a somewhat roundabout way.

But just then, Tony Stark and Professor Xavier were joined in there by two more individuals.

"Logan wanted us to come tell you that the game was about to start." Mariko said to the Professor, as she and Ororo now appeared just inside of the study's entrance.

Both were decked out in some of the new clothes that they had gotten at the mall yesterday. With Ororo wearing a pair of long black denim-overalls with a yellow turtleneck underneath, while Mariko had on a gold-colored wool sweater and red mini-skirt.

"Ladies..." Tony said, as he immediately stood up from his chair upon laying eyes on the pair, and then proceeded over towards them.

"Tell Logan that I will perhaps join you a bit later. After I've concluded any remaining unfinished business in here." Professor Xavier said to Ororo and Mariko, before turning his attention back to their visitor.

"Oh, we're done. And you actually reminded me that I've got a plane to catch." Tony said to Professor Xavier, before turning his full attention back to the two females now in his presence.

"Tony, I would like to introduce you to Ororo Munroe and Mariko Yashida." Professor Xavier said, as he handled the formalities.

"You know, my plane should touch down in Minneapolis just in time for us to catch the second-half kickoff from my private skybox. If you would care to join me, of course." Tony now extended his own formal invitation to Ororo and Mariko, while cordially shaking and then kissing each on the backs of their hand.

"_Ahem_. Ororo and Mariko are two of my students, Tony. Two of my underage students." Professor Xavier interrupted, feeling the need to inform his guest of this small, but important detail, as he could easily sense his intentions without even needing the assistance of his telepathy.

"Then...I'll take that as my cue to prepare for a solo departure." Tony said with an ever-present smile, and now a slight hint of embarrassment.

But it was a sentiment that didn't linger with him for too long, judging by his final remark to Professor Xavier.

"By the way, I've been working on designs for a new prototype battle-suit for military use. In case it also winds up being rejected, should I go ahead and set aside a few for you and your students'? You know, for one of those slow days in gym class?" Tony turned back and asked, just as he was almost halfway out of the study.

While the expression on his face appeared totally serious, his question was obviously drenched in pure sarcasm.

"I believe that the holo-matrix will suffice for now." Professor Xavier replied, sensing the jesting nature of this last comment.

Meanwhile, as Ororo and Mariko exited his study behind 'the' Tony Stark, Professor Xavier himself went back to work. Before Tony Stark had called earlier, Professor Xavier had been busy going over a thorough assessment and evaluation of the X-Men's first mission. And while they had been resoundingly successful, it was in there that he still saw definite room for improvement. All in order to better prepare them for the future foes or scenarios that they may be confronted with.

One glaring area that had been brought to his attention was with regard to their means of transportation. Had the threat they faced been of a time-imperative nature, then they certainly wouldn't have been as lucky as they had been this time. Which explained why Professor X had pulled out numerous document folders and placed them on top of his desk. Contained within them were several bids and proposals submitted by military contractors. The majority of which had been put on the backburner or rejected outright due to the severe Defense Department budgetary cutbacks being made in this new post-Cold War world.

However, one file that had piqued his interest in particular was a proposed modification to the near-legendary SR-71 supersonic spy-plane, redesigning it into a prototype ultra-fast stealth passenger transport classified as the new SR-73 model. But it too had been the victim of an ever-expanding budgetary axe, with the design being rejected for initial production because of plans to begin scaling back, and then eventually phasing the craft out of military service all together.

Even so, Professor Xavier still intended to commit this proposing company's name to memory, just in case he needed it again for future reference.

Shaw Industries...

**xxx**

"Well?"

Was the question that Ororo and Mariko were greeted with upon their return to the mansion's living room several minutes later.

"We met him." Mariko replied to John, who had been the one to pose this query, as she and Ororo came in and took a seat on the sofa next to Logan.

"And..." Morph further inquired of the pair from his seated position on the floor, relaxingly leaning back against the front of the sofa down at its other end opposite from Logan.

"And, they found out the guy is just another snobby rich jerk." John disparagingly said from the adjoining seat where he was sitting, restating his own assumptions regarding Tony Stark.

Which, John had managed to form in just the brief time that he had been around Tony. It was after he had answered the front door earlier and then had shown Tony in to the Professor's study, all at Professor Xavier's telepathically-communicated request.

"I don't know about that. But, he did invite us to come fly on his private jet, so that we could go watch the game with him from his own personal luxury box." Mariko smiled and replied with a sort of contained glee.

It was all from talking about receiving such an invitation from the man that she and Ororo had rushed off to catch a glimpse of with their own two eyes, after John had come in and informed them of their famous guest who was visiting with the Professor down the hallway. And who had apparently left both girls' a bit celebrity-struck, judging from the bubbly affectations emanating from them at the moment after meeting the man who was regularly featured on the front-page of the newspapers, or scandal sheets, depending on how well the week had gone for the famous international playboy.

"Then, what are we waiting for? We've got a plane to catch!" Morph jumped up and excitedly exclaimed, now holding up a 'Prince's tail-gate party, or bust' sign in his hand.

"Morph, I think that you misunderstand." Ororo immediately said, as her and Mariko's demeanor became slightly more serious.

"Huh? Misunderstand what?" Morph asked, now a bit puzzled over what Ororo meant.

"That the 'us' she was talking about, was just them two, 'Jelly-head'." Logan, who had been silent and far more engrossed in the game that was well into the first quarter by now, took a personal time-out so that he could break things down for Morph.

"Oh. Then how come you guys' are still here?" Morph now asked Ororo and Mariko, as he went and sat back down.

"You mean, besides the conniption that the Professor was gonna have if we had actually gone? Especially, considering how well he handled our little trip into town yesterday?" Mariko responded, as she slid down from the sofa onto the floor in front of it right next to Morph, briefly putting her arms around him in a hugging embrace while settling in beside him, "And anyways, what kind of fun would I have without my 'favorite cartoon character' around to keep me company? And, to help explain some of what's going on out there."

Mariko was referring to the fact that Morph had been taking the time to explain the subtle nuances of American Football to her and Ororo. Both of whom were far more familiar with the international version of the game known here as soccer, or the somewhat similarly-styled Rugby.

"Like, why teams' usually try to run on a first-down? Like they just did!" Morph said to Mariko, as he pointed over at the TV screen for her to take a look at a play, which he felt the defensive unit should've seen coming.

Meanwhile, as everyone else was starting to get back into the game, John had quietly gotten up and left the room. It went fairly unnoticed by the others, except for one. Ororo had visually trailed him out and then got up to follow John, sensing that there was something troubling her generally stoic teammate. But by leaving when they did, John and Ororo would both miss out on Morph's pre-halftime celebration.

Which began when a time-out was called on the field a few minutes later.

_**"Ouga-chaka, ouga, ouga,**_

_**ouga-chaka, ouga, ouga..."**_

"Morph, what in the hell're you doing?" Logan asked, and none too softly, when Morph suddenly jumped up in front of the TV.

"Just hanging in my Buffalo Stance." Morph nonchalantly replied, as he turned back around from the TV to face Logan and Mariko. Although as they would see, his appearance was anything but understated.

Now literally standing there before them in the guise of a half-man, half-buffalo wearing a cowboy hat, a pair of black leather chaps, and spurs down around each of his hooves, Morph smiled back at the pair to reveal a prominently placed gold-tooth.

All to one's amusement, but to the other's chagrin.

Morph then spun back around and continued his pseudo-chanting, while dancing from side to side in front of the TV. And once again, drew the ire of his most vocal critic.

"Dammit Morph, why don't 'cha just sit your ass back down for a while!" Logan this time shouted at him.

"Aw, c'mon. I'm just getting into the spirit of things." Morph once again turned back to him and smilingly replied.

"How? By jumpin' around in front of the TV like some sorta hyperactive jackass?" Logan sarcastically asked, as he took a sip from his beer that was sitting on the small coffee table in front of him.

"No, like a hyperactive water-buffalo, thank you very much!" Morph correctingly responded in kind, with a small snort thrown in for added emphasis.

"Fine. But could you at least have your little breakdown over there?" Logan 'suggested' by pointing off to a side area of the living room.

"Oh, alright. Party-pooper." Morph shook his head and muttered, as he acquiesced and made his exit stage left, his demeanor looking considerably dejected.

But once he was over there, Morph immediately perked up when he jumped back into his celebratory dancing.

"I swear, sometimes it's like I'm babysitting a damn two year-old or something." Logan remarked aloud, as he took another swig from his beer and watched Morph start up again.

"_**Ah-goo!**_"

Was the final biting retort that Logan received from Morph, coming at him from all of the way over on the other side of the room. Who was also putting his own spin on an old axiom, by proving that you can't keep a good buffalo down for very long.

**xxx**

Outside, Ororo by now had finally caught up to John on the mansion's sizable rear-patio. When she walked through the large double-doors that led out there, Ororo saw that he was standing there with his massive frame leaning forward against the surrounding brick and mortar railing, staring out onto the huge garden back there. It was there that Ororo herself had spent a good amount of her free time after first arriving at the Institute, with the Professor quickly noticing and complimenting her on the care and attention that she had shown in tending to the garden's numerous plants. So much so, that the hired landscaper had stopped bothering with this part of the estate during his weekly maintenance visits, realizing that the garden was probably in far more capable hands now.

But with the onset of fall, and then winter, Ororo had begun spending less and less time out here, as 'her' plants all went dormant in response to the arrival of these frostier seasonal patterns. And tonight it was cold enough that even John, who had privately prided himself on being able to rough it outside as a true warrior, had grabbed his blue and red leather southwestern jacket before coming out here.

"Is everything alright?" Ororo asked after standing out there in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Yeah. Just came out here to grab a breath of fresh air, is all." John replied to his newly announced company.

Although, John had sensed her presence behind him almost immediately. That scent of jasmine she always wore, so pure and natural from Ororo having grown the very flowers that she used in producing it herself, was unmistakably intoxicating to John's heightened senses. But, Ororo was also able to sense that John was not being completely honest with her, judging by the somewhat agitated emotional vibes that she was picking up from him.

"Are you upset about the game?" Ororo now asked, as she came over to stand beside him.

Ororo had recalled seeing a news report leading up to 'Super Sunday', which talked about the controversy swirling around one of the team's choice of mascot and how it had drawn protests from various Native American groups' because of what they saw as its derogatory nature. She knew how important John's heritage and culture was to him, and wondered to herself if perhaps this was what was bothering him?

"Nah. I mean, other than it was already starting to look like a blow-out." John looked over and replied to Ororo with a small smile, "But to be honest, I wasn't really that much into the game anyways."

After that, they both stood out there together in silence for a few minutes, staring out onto the now brown and barren garden.

"So...that Tony Stark is really something, huh?" John eventually said, although from the tone of his comment, he certainly didn't sound as though he had any kinds of feelings of admiration for the man.

"He's nice, I imagine." Ororo looked over at John and replied, who was still staring out onto the garden.

"You imagine?" John smirkingly remarked.

"Well, I hardly know him." Ororo answered.

"But, you'd like to get to know him better, right?" John revealed his assumption, as he finally turned to face Ororo.

Who, had also noticed Ororo's lack of comment on how she felt when the subject of Tony's tempting offer had been brought up earlier. And he saw it as a tell-tale sign, when the fairly reserved Ororo suddenly began laughing in response to what he had just said.

"Not necessarily." Ororo replied, her tone once again turning serious as she took a few steps towards John, "Although, there are...others that I would prefer getting to know on a closer, more personal basis."

"Really?" John said, while looking down into these beautiful blue eyes of her's, which in turn were now gazing up into his.

"John...I never properly thanked you for what you did for me, over in that boathouse a few weeks ago." Ororo now told John, referring to an emotionally traumatic episode that she had experienced during their first mission.

"It's like I said. Well, like Mariko said anyways. We're teammates, that's what we do for each other." John replied, and now saw something else in Ororo that he hadn't ever seen before as they continued slowly drawing closer to one another.

Nervousness.

For someone who always carried herself with such unbelievable poise and confidence, it was an unexpected sight for John to behold. And while Ororo had shown a tremendous lack of inhibition when it came to displaying herself in a physical sense, she now found that when it came to matters of the heart and making herself vulnerable in that way, it was an entirely different ballgame.

"Yes, but I still...still wanted you to know how much I...appreciated--" Ororo breathily said, while looking back down towards the ground and fidgeting a little.

Ororo found herself awkwardly searching for the right words to properly express how she felt about this individual now standing mere inches away from her. Whom, she had also been steadily growing more and more attracted to in the time that they had been here at the Institute.

But, her vocabulary search came to an abrupt end when John gently placed his oversized hand underneath Ororo's chin, caressingly tilting her face back up to look at him. Their eyes immediately zeroed back in on one another, right before John leaned down to kiss her mid-sentence.

It was his way of showing her that words weren't the only method with which to express how you felt for someone else. John then proceeed to wrap both of his arms around Ororo into his secure embrace, and she instinctively responded by resting both of her hands up around the back of his neck, all the while their current lip-lock continued unabated.

And it was in this passionate embrace that Ororo and John would remain together for some time, staying out here until well after the game being watched inside had come to an end. With this couple having obviously found a far more interesting way with which to occupy their time...


	8. Helter Skelter

Before Evolution

Written by Darkstorm5000

Disclaimer: X-Men Evolution, the X-Men, and other related characters in their various incarnations are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group and Film Roman Productions, are used without permission and not for profit.

**xxx**

Chapter 8- Helter Skelter

Finding themselves having returned back home at this fairly late hour from what had turned out to be a fun-filled evening, the students' of the Xavier Institute were hardly concerned with this fact for two reasons. First, since tonight also happened to be a Saturday night, their usual nightly curfew was relaxed and pushed back a few additional hours from the normal time that the Professor Xavier had set for them.

But, the second and overriding reason for their lax attitudes on the subject could be attributed to their Headmaster currently being away and out of town, having left his four young charges for the most part to their own devices for the weekend.

"...because, I still don't buy it." John Proudstar said, as he opened one of the mansion's front doors and was the first to come in through it.

"What do you mean, you don't buy it?" Mariko Yashida asked next, and was also the next to come inside behind him.

"The whole idea of some high-school cheerleader running around killing vampires in her spare time." John skeptically remarked, referring to the new movie they had just gone to see tonight.

"Yet, you have no problem with the stuff that goes on around here?" Mariko in turn sarcastically pointed out to him, "Besides, it was just a movie."

"Yeah, I know. But, I think alotta sci-fi movie plots would probably seem downright normal compared to some of the things that we've had to deal with here." John stopped in the foyer and replied.

"I rather enjoyed it. Even though, I am generally not a fan of vampire movies." Ororo commented, as the other two members of their small group now came inside, the both of them having arrived just in time to hear the last part of John and Mariko's conversation.

"You know, I'm surprised you and John even managed to notice that there was a movie playing at all. Especially, with the way you two were gettin' busy back there behind us, suckin' each other's kiss and all." Morph whimsically remarked to Ororo, closing the front door behind him while she made her way over to her boyfriend.

To which, the happy couple's only response were a pair of subtlely-guilty grins and glances.

Ororo had also come inside holding a set of keys in her hand, having recently been the first in their group to get her driver's license. Which, granted her and her classmates' a greater degree of independence to leave the Institute. And while she had just driven the van around back so that she could park it in the garage, Morph had also remained in the vehicle to accompany her on this brief and final leg of their journey tonight. All, so that he could receive one last little bit of self-gratification, by hanging his head out of the passenger-side window like a dog with its tongue wagging in the breeze.

Literally.

"Still, it was nice to see Paul Reubens finally starting to get work again." Morph now commented, as the gang moved from the foyer down the adjoining corridor into the living room, "If I'd known he was going to be in it, I would've automatically given it my first vote when we were trying to decide what to see tonight."

"Aannnd, we wouldn't have had to start a ballot-system for movie night at all, if it hadn't been for the choice a 'certain someone' made last year." Mariko now sarcastically rolled her eyes and chimed in, her reminder aimed right back at Morph.

"Hey, I still say Cool As Ice wasn't that bad." Morph replied as he took a seat on the sofa with Mariko, picking up the remote from the coffee table in front of them and turning the TV on, "It was actually one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time."

"Only problem is that it wasn't even supposed to be a comedy." Mariko now told Morph, and drew an extremely confused reaction from him in the process.

"No way." Morph giggled and disbelievingly replied, then looked over at Mariko.

"Way." Mariko responded to him, doing so with a confirmative nod.

"**No! Way!**" Morph once again said, this time with greater emphasis on each word and in a 'not yet ready for prime-time' perfect imitation to further illustrate his disbelief.

"**Way!**" Mariko replied in kind, adding in her own Madonna-esque vocal inflection, along with emulative facial and body gestures to match her exclamation.

"But...like most of the theatre was rolling in the aisles?" Morph proceeded to remind Mariko.

"Well, yeah." Mariko responded with a smile and a simple shrug of her shoulders, doing so in a manner that indicated to Morph that in spite of how true his last observation was, it was also pretty much beside the point.

But instead of responding with an almost requisite 'Excellent!' quip to round out this exchange, Morph appeared to be thoroughly disturbed by this revelation judging by the genuinely stunned expression on his face.

"Um, I think I'm going to need a minute." Morph now said, leaning forward a bit as he put both hands up to massage his temples and just sat there silently for awhile.

In the meantime, John had gone and taken a seat in a nearby armchair with Ororo also sitting down there with him, positioning herself comfortably up on one of the chair's cushioned armrests with her legs resting across his lap. With hands interlaced and the both of them now all smiles, it was a clear indication of just how close John and Ororo had become over the last several months.

But, now coming onto the television was a news report that had to do with a very different kind of coming together.

It was about the rebuilding process in Los Angeles that had barely gotten underway, following the disturbing chain of events that had unfolded a few months ago after the Rodney King trial-verdict was announced and had resulted in widespread rioting and violence across the South Central section of the city. It was an incident that catapulted a number of issues into the national spotlight, including the way in which opinions' about what had happened before and after the trial were split along racial, cultural, and social lines more than had been anticipated.

And, it served to remind the four teens in the room of the extensive discussion that had sprung up between them back when all of this happened, which revealed to them how that even within their small group they could each hold such widely varying outlooks on the subject.

But it was Morph who, surprisingly, best put things in perspective for them all. He poignantly pointed out that with his mutant ability to make himself look like anyone, how it had quickly taught him just how unimportant outward features like skin color really were, when you got down to it.

"So, what've you been up to cowboy?" Mariko now playfully asked as the news report continued on across the television screen, turning back around to greet Logan who was now standing in the living room's entryway.

"Just out for a drink. Or six." Logan replied, standing there with a six-pack ring of beer in his hand, which currently only had two cans remaining on it, "I was outside when I heard you guys pull up, and just came in to check on you like I promised the Prof. I'll be back out there doin' what I do best, if any of ya need me."

And with that, Logan was gone just as quickly as he had arrived, turning to head back outside into his own private solitude while carrying what remained of his second six-pack of the night. It was a personal space that his younger teammates had come to respect and generally tried not intrude upon, unless absolutely necessary.

But, it still didn't keep them from wondering and occasionally speculating amongst themselves as to the nature of the inner-demons that seemed to haunt their elder teammate, driving him to act in the ways that he sometimes did.

**xxx**

_Later that night, much later_...

So far, this summer had turned out to be a long hot one, and tonight would be no exception. And while some of the Institute's residents were experiencing varying degrees of trouble sleeping due to this unusually localized heat and humidity, what had managed to uniformly catch their attentions' was the sound of someone, or something, clumsily making their way around and through the mansion.

"Um, did you hear that?" Mariko semi-groggily asked, as she came out of her room and was met out in this darkened hallway by one of her teammates, who had also come from out of his bedroom just a few doors down.

"Yeah, how couldn't I." John replied as he and Mariko stood there together in their informal nightwear, referring to the loud thuds that sounded like were coming from down at the other end of the hallway where Professor Xavier's room was.

Which, was where they heard another resounding thump come from just now.

"I swear, this better not be Morph playing another one of his practical jokes!" Mariko surmised, as she and John started walking down towards the sounds in this virtual pitch darkness. She figured that it was their other, more comically-natured friend and teammate who was behind these strange noises, and who was having a bit of fun at their expense while the Professor was away.

As they neared their Headmaster's bedroom, they both saw that the bedroom door was ajar and then heard yet another peculiar emanation from within.

"Alright, Morph! You can cut it out now!" John now shouted through the door, hoping that Morph would get the hint that they were rapidly growing weary of his antics.

"Cut out, what?" Morph himself now asked, as he seemed to suddenly come up from out of nowhere but from behind John and Mariko, completely surprising the pair.

"**Whoa**!" Mariko exclaimed, as she turned around and was face-to-face with Morph, "John and I...we heard some noises coming from the Professor's room, and we thought you were in there doing it. You know, trying to scare us with one of your pranks."

To which, Morph simply stood there and looked at her for a moment.

"I, for one, am deeply offended by that. If I were the one behind pulling this gag off, it would have all the obvious markings of a '_Morph Practical-Joke Production_'. I mean, where's the girl with her head spinning around, spewin' out chunks like a water-sprinkler?" Morph replied in his own defense, since he had heard the same unusual noises and had come to curiously investigate them just as John and Mariko had.

But, Morph also went so far as to twist his own head around in a 360-degree circular motion to serve as an example of what he was talking about before continuing. Although, he was courteous enough to spare his friends' a full-demonstration.

"Heck, there'd at least be some kid sitting in front of a TV telling you '_Theyre heeerre..._'. But this, its got no sense of style. No sense of style at all. And I, for one, say that this is exactly the reason why the modern horror-film genre is all but dead, because--" Morph was saying, when a timely interruption ceased what was quickly turning into an off-topic rant.

"Okay, we believe you." Mariko said with a small laugh, as she had put her hand up to Morph's mouth to cover it, finding this the only way that she could get a word in edgewise once he had gotten started.

"Yeah, that's all well and good. But it still doesn't answer what's going on behind door number-three?" John now reminded them, as he pointed and turned their attention back towards the Professor's room.

And feeling that it was well past time for them to find out, the trio moved forward. Once they had reached Professor Xavier's room, the group paused momentarily before John went and pushed on the ajar door, opening it up completely.

"So, uh, who called us with a report that they'd just seen a ghost?" Morph said, as he stepped into Professor Xavier's room first and was now dressed in a brown jumpsuit with an instantly recognizable ghost-busting patch up on the shoulder. He had even gone so far as to have a fully lit-up proton pack strapped onto his back, and was holding a signature wand discharge-gun in his hand.

After John and Mariko had come in to join him, they took a quick look around the bedroom. It appeared to be in a heavily disheveled state of disarray, with the bed and hardwood dresser drawers broken and turned over. Morph, John, and Mariko all knew how highly unlikely it was that their teacher would've done this before leaving, and were wondering what was going on.

But just as they were visually assessing all of this damage, they suddenly saw it.

Off to the far-side of the bedroom was a figure in the shadows that looked unlike anything that any of them had ever seen. Despite standing in at well over seven-feet tall, height was its least intimidating feature. With scaly, leather-like skin of a blood-red hue and possessing a gangly skeletal-structure, it accurately resembled a demonic creature of some sort.

But unshaken by its appearance, Mariko amazingly began to make her way over towards it. For her, the lessons that she and her classmates' had been taught from Professor Xavier about mutations was the thing sticking out foremost in her mind. That, he had been preparing them for the eventuality of encountering a mutant whose very physical appearance was an affected byproduct of their powers manifesting. And Mariko didn't want to make the mistake of jumping to conclusions or casting aspersions based solely on looks alone.

"Um, I'm Mariko. If you're looking for Professor Xavier, he's not here right now." Mariko said, as she slowly took step after step towards the creature, staring up into its sunken and glowing orange eyes, "But, we're friends of his."

To prove her point, Mariko then proceeded to extend her hand out in an amicable gesture.

"_We know_."

Would be the creature's lone utterance, right before it would offer a response to Mariko's earnest attempt at building camaraderie. Although, it would be a response hardly reciprocal in its nature.

"**Mariko, lookout**!"

Mariko barely had a chance to fully process and then react to this warning that had been shouted out to her, recoiling her hand back just in the nick of time to avoid completely losing her entire arm as the creature's own razor-sharp claws came down at her in a slashing motion. But the creature's movement was blinding fast, so much so that it still managed to draw first blood by grazing Mariko's upper-arm with its claw. In spite of only landing a glancing blow, it still hit her with more than enough force to knock Mariko off of her feet and send her flying backwards through the air.

Waiting back there for Mariko though was a huge helping hand ready to lend itself, as Morph shape-shifted himself into a giant cushioned-glove and made the save by catching this human fastball that been sent his way.

"Bub, you don't know how bad you just messed up!" Wolverine now said to the creature, as he stepped into the room and popped all six of the adamantium claws from his hands. He had rushed back inside when his enhanced-hearing detected a commotion upstairs in the Professor's room, and had arrived just in time to deliver his warning to Mariko from out in the hallway.

Assessing their current situation Wolverine had to now make a few command, split-second decisions. Even though he considered this area of expertise neither his forte, nor was it a favored preference of his.

"Morph, keep an eye on her." Wolverine said, as he looked down at Morph, who was kneeling and cradling an injured and semi-conscious Mariko in his arms.

Wolverine then quickly turned his attention over to Thunderbird.

"Go check on Ororo, make sure she's okay." Wolverine instructed his teammate, pointing with one set of claws down towards Ororo's room, "Let her know what's goin' down, and that there might be more of these things runnin' around in here."

As Thunderbird took off in a sprint down the dark hallway, Wolverine then turned his attention and claws back towards the creature with an almost sickening smile on his face. Without any further words being exchanged or the slightest hint of hesitation on either of their parts, they both did what came instinctually when confronted with a foe.

The sheer savagery and viciousness that was about to be unleashed between these two in the next few minutes, would be something that neither of their young onlookers present would ever forget.

**xxx**

Dashing down this second-floor corridor as swiftly as his powerful legs would carry him, Thunderbird made it down to Ororo's room with such a miniscule amount of time elapsed that it would definitely have had most pro-sports scouts' salivating. Luckily, he managed to get there just in time prevent to another one of these creatures, who had also mysteriously crept in, from hurting his girlfriend.

Whom, Thunderbird noticed was still fast-asleep in her bed, and whom the creature was silently skulking across the bedroom towards. With the amount of noise that other one had been keeping up in contrast, it now made T-Bird wonder if the commotion that he had just left down at the opposite end of the corridor hadn't been part of some kind of elaborately thought-out and coordinated strategy? To keep them occupied in the Professor's room, while this monster snuck in and quietly took out perhaps the most powerful member of their team.

But it would be to no avail, as Thunderbird didn't even bother with yelling out any kind of warning and simply ran towards the creature. With his own strength and momentum propelling him through the air, Thunderbird tackled the creature from behind hard enough that it sent the both of them hurtling right over Ororo's bed and crashing into the wall on the other side.

"**By the goddess**!" Were the only words that Storm could conjure to describe the nightmarish scene unfolding before her. Having been startled from what was a peaceful slumber, she now saw her boyfriend locked in a life-and-death struggle with a demon-like creature on the floor just a few feet away from her.

And, with the same lack of hesitation that Thunderbird had shown in leaping to her defense, Storm responded in kind. Immediately jumping to her feet on top of her bed, Storm used her near-absolute control over the elements to generate a small and tightly concentrated hurricane magnitude wind-burst, which she aimed at the creature with the purpose of separating it and its death-grip from Thunderbird.

Once that had been quickly and efficiently accomplished with T-Bird now safely out of harm's way, Storm proceeded to cut loose with an intense blast of electricity that was sent from her and now coursed through the creature's body. Although, Thunderbird had no way of gauging how truly powerful that energy bolt was in terms of kilowatt measurement, he knew that it must've been more than enough for Storm to clearly get her point across. Judging by the way that the creature didn't stick around for seconds, and quickly scampered out of the room.

"You okay?" Thunderbird asked, as he collected himself from off of the floor and stood up.

"I would think that a question more appropriate of me to be asking you?" Storm replied, as she hopped down from her bed and rushed over to Thunderbird, where she slowly ran her hand over a few bruised areas on his shirtless upper-body.

"I'm fine, now that I know you're fine." Thunderbird told Storm, with his hands now embracingly up around her shoulders before he gave her a quick kiss on her forehead.

"Which, is more than can be said for our uninvited houseguest." Storm added, while looking up at T-Bird, "Would you mind telling me now what in the world is going on, and what that creature was doing in here?"

But instead of answering her, Thunderbird suddenly remembered that they had teammates' who were still in danger from this most unnatural home invasion.

"C'mon, I'll explain it all in a minute." Thunderbird said, as he grabbed Storm by the hand and started off with her, the both of them heading back towards the Professor's room.

One very short run later, Ororo and John had arrived just outside of their headmaster's quarters. But, John grew increasingly concerned when he didn't hear any sounds coming from inside.

There was only complete and total silence.

And once he and Ororo looked inside, they would easily understand why.

"Is everyone alright in here?" John asked, as he cautiously poked his head in through the doorway.

"Why don't you ask Hannibal Lector over there?" Morph replied, in what for him, was an uncharacteristically terse tone. He was still seated the same position on the floor with Mariko, who now conscious and sitting up on her own beside him.

Morph was pointing across the now even more trashed bedroom at Logan, who himself appeared to be quietly crouched over in some kind of meditative position. It was then that John and Ororo saw what Morph was referring to.

All around Logan were the decapitated and completely eviscerated remains of the demon-creature that they had first encountered earlier, giving an indisputable and disturbing indication of who had won their fight. So obviously frightened by what they had seen, witnessing for the first time what Logan was actually like when he lost control and slipped into one of his 'beserker rages', that neither Morph nor Mariko had said a single word until Ororo and John made their entrance.

And Mariko still hadn't said anything to anyone, appearing to be as emotionally overwhelmed at the carnage that had just unfolded before, as she was at seeing the almost primal pleasure that Logan had taken in ripping the creature apart. Instead, she sat there looking down and silently tended to the makeshift tourniquet wrapped around her injured and now numbed arm, which Morph had torn off for her from one of the Professor's ripped up bed sheets.

"Say, we ran into another one of those things down in Ororo's room. She zapped it pretty good, but it still got away." John informed Logan, and then waited through a noticeable pause for a response. Which, he eventually got.

"Then, we go 'n find 'em." Logan finally said, as he stood up from his crouched position covered in splatterings from the creature's blood, "Suit up and let's get to it."

Logan then turned and walked past his young teammates' out of the room, without looking at any of them or saying anything else. And for the first time since making Logan's acquaintance, his fellow X-Men sensed a new emotion being relayed from him through his current demeanor.

Shame.

**xxx**

After expeditiously changing into their team uniforms in only a matter of a couple of minutes, the X-Men emerged from their rooms ready for action and to face the task at hand.

"It went down this way." Logan said to the rest of the group as they followed him down this corridor into one of Institute's unoccupied wings, his hyper-tracking abilities leading them down the path left behind by the creature that Ororo and John had tangled with earlier.

Stealthily making their way further downstairs via a rarely-used side staircase, the X-Men did so in hopes of keeping their approach undetected, as well as in an attempt to keep up with their uninvited houseguest.

Once they had made it out into this first-floor corridor, Wolverine's nose continued leading the way until it brought the X-Men to just outside of Professor Xavier's study. After a brief moment of internal preparation for whatever awaited them on the other side of this door, a non-verbal gesture from Storm instructed Wolverine to go ahead and turn the doorknob, and told the rest of the X-Men to be ready.

Inside of their mentor's personal sanctum, the gang saw the creature that they had following, and that it was no longer alone. Standing around a stone marker off to one side of the room were three more of the creatures, who were identical in appearance to the first ones.

The broken stone marker itself, which had been brought into the mansion after it had been unexpectedly discovered by Thunderbird and Wolverine out on the grounds of the estate, and was being kept in here until an old archaeologist friend of the Professor's could come and properly examine it to determine its origin, was now aglow with a bizarre mystical energy. It was apparently a power designed to assist the creatures in invading this new world, which in actuality wasn't so new to them, as the one that Storm had injured was now using the marker's netherwordly properties to heal itself. And as evident by its rapidly growing group of cohorts, all of whose attention by now was focused on the X-Men, the marker also served as an arcane method of transportation for them.

"Okay, I'm going to ahead and officially ask it. When did the Institute all of a sudden turn into Hell House?" Morph semi-sarcastically inquired of his teammates', all of them watching as yet another one of the demon-creatures struggled to finish pulling itself through the trans-dimensional rift surrounding the stone cairn.

"More like, we've got the weirdest party-crashers ever." Sunfire observantly added.

"Whatever their reason for being here, if we do not do something and do it rather quickly, I fear that the mansion will be overrun by these monsters." Storm reminded her team, refocusing their attention onto the task at hand as she began formulating a strategy to most effectively deal with their unwanted houseguests.

But before she had the opportunity to verbalize her plan to the rest of the X-Men, the member of their team with the reputation of allowing his fists and temper to at times override his better judgment, took matters into his own hands. Without saying a word, other than a few uninterpretable grunts, Wolverine flung himself into this rapidly-expanding demon horde.

From the moment when he had confronted the first of these creatures upstairs earlier, Wolverine knew that there was something different about the enemy that they were facing tonight. It was what he detected from them and what seemed to permeate around their very presence and essence.

It was the stink of pure, unadulterated evil.

And while he was ashamed at having let the animal inside of him take over before, Wolverine also knew that he had nonetheless responded correctly. That in his experience in having dealt with creatures such as these before, the only way to stop their relentless assault would be to stop them. Permanently.

Even if that meant taking this fight to places that his young teammates were not yet ready to follow.

But to prove that they were more than prepared for just such an escalation, while Wolverine violently clawed his way through the creatures and dropped them with what appeared to be the barest of efforts, the stone cairn that seemed to be their anchor-hold in this world suddenly came to life in a manner that the X-Men had not been expecting.

With its surrounding, almost aural-like energies flashing to a brilliant shade of red in only an instant, a bright and powerful blast was unleashed from the small and broken stone structure aimed right at Wolverine.

Meant to be a protective defense mechanism to eradicate any who dared oppose them, the concentrated blast hit Logan so hard that it took him off of his feet and left ungodly singe marks on his body around its impact point. If the X-Men hadn't been aware of it before, then this should have certainly driven home to them the fact that they were now in a fight for their lives.

But, rather than allowing herself to become shaken or rattled by a situation that was only getting worse by the minute, Storm instead managed to keep her full composure. Realizing that with the Professor away and Logan currently unconscious while his body healed from the injuries that he had received just moments ago, the responsibility now fell onto her shoulders as the X-Men's leader to watch out for their welfare and find a way to bring them all through this in one piece.

"Morph, Thunderbird, do what you can to draw the fire of that stone column, while Sunfire and I prepare to hit it with all that we have." Storm quickly explained to her team, finding for the first-time that this leadership role seemed to have a natural and comfortable fit for her, "We may only have one chance at this, so I suggest that we make it count."

And with that, Thunderbird and Morph did as instructed. Both ran towards the other-wordly stone cairn, which seemed to have an uncanny level of sentience by being able to instantly detect their approach and respond with several malefic energy discharges aimed at the pair.

They each easily managed to avoid these mystical bursts, Thunderbird with his mutant-enhanced speed and agility, and Morph by using his own abilities to take the form of a sleek jungle cat to dart to-and-fro in front of the cairn's path of fire.

Meanwhile, Storm and Sunfire hung back and waited for the right opportunity to strike. And Storm was beyond satisfied to see that her plan was working to maximum perfection. By Morph and Thunderbird keeping the cairn occupied, it had the secondary effect of preventing any further of these creatures from emerging forth through it. And it bought her and Sunfire enough time to do what they did next.

To build up enough raw power within themselves to unleash their own massive and devastating thunderbolt/atomic flame combination blast into the heart of the cairn, shattering it wholly into a thousand tiny fragments and effectively sealing it for good!

With victory achieved and this still enigmatic threat seemingly vanquished, the X-Men took a moment to relax and catch their breaths for the first time since this entire episode began.

Then, it hit them.

The recognition of the fact that they had fought and beaten this enemy on their own! That, they were able to triumph and persevere without their teacher's assistance, although it was thanks to the training that they had received from Professor Xavier that they had been able to successfully do so.

"Well, I'm glad that's over." Morph said, while looking at a watch now on his wrist that had an abnormally large smiley face.

"Yeah, and I hope that's the last we've seen of weird creatures turning up here in the Institute." Mariko optimistically added, as she took a seat in a nearby chair and clutched her injured arm that was now throbbing with pain.

"Perhaps we should call the Professor and inform him of what has happened?" Ororo openly considered.

"Wake him up and tell him what? This is the kind of thing you have to see to believe." John stood with both arms folded over in front and remarked, "Hell, even after seeing it for myself I still don't half believe it."

To which, a now conscious and still trying to heal Logan offered up a rarely-heard chuckle from his seated position over on the floor.

"Welcome to the world of the strange, kid." Logan then said to John, as he went to stand back up.

"What's that supposed to mean, 'Pops'?" John curiously asked Logan, but received no answer.

Instead, Logan simply offered him a wry smirk in response, before turning to leave the Professor's now battle-scarred study. Almost as if he were saying to all of them through his non-verbalization:

"_Kid, you'll be findin' out soon enough..._"

**xxx**

**The End.**

**(For now...)**


End file.
